Every visitors' center at a presidential estate has two core functions: to sell tickets and to block the view of the house for people who have not bought tickets. Just down the Thomas Jefferson Parkway from Monticello is Ash Lawn-Highland, the home of James Monroe. The last little turnoff on the way is called James Monroe Parkway. Admission to the fifth president's house is $10, and Monticello has already consumed the morning and half the afternoon, with James Madison's Montpelier still waiting on the way home. In place of a guidebook, there is a one-sheet. Hello and farewell, President Monroe!
