There are, of course, no photographs of Thomas Jefferson and no recordings of how he moved or spoke, but Bill Barker has found other ways to understand and portray the nation’s third president.
His interest dates back to childhood – growing up in Philadelphia. Class trips took him to Independence Hall, and a family vacation led to Jefferson’s home in Charlottesville.
“We drove right up very nearly to the top of the mountain where the house sits, and from the time we walked up to that house," he recalls. "We entered, and I was just mesmerized. I mean I thought ‘Look at this place. How cool!’”
He was deeply moved when his mother insisted on a visit to Jefferson’s grave.
“As my mother and I made our way down to the family cemetery, sure enough it began to rain. It is pouring! But that had no effect on my mother and me. We’re standing there looking at the tombstone, and I remember saying, ‘Is he there?’ And my mother said, ‘All that remains of his mortal person, but his spirit still is surrounding us.’ That experience came to me in dreams as I was growing up."
Because his parents were great story tellers, Barker became an actor, and the role of a lifetime fell into his lap.
“A friend of mine who portrayed Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia asked me, ‘Did anyone ever tell you that you look like Jefferson?’’ I had long red hair and was rather geeky, gangly looking, and so he said, ‘You’d be perfect for photo ops and celebrations at Independence Hall. They’ll need a Jefferson,’ so that’s how it started.”
He spent 13 years portraying Thomas Jefferson at schools in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Washington and Maryland. Then – still clad in a ruffled shirt, britches and a waistcoat, he moved on to Colonial Williamsburg where he spent 27 years as Jefferson. Today he’s on Monticello’s payroll where he has entertained guests since 2019.
Through it all, Barker studied much of what Jefferson had written – absorbing the words from more than 19,000 letters and documents. There was no way to know how Jefferson sounded when he spoke, but Barker’s family came from this region, and he noted the way his own elders had spoken
“My father, who was born in 1894 and knew his grandfather, let alone his own father very well, his grandfather being born in 1821, and as a kid I would say, ‘Daddy, did your father speak this same way --- with the same accent?” And he would say, ‘Of course he did!’”
Jefferson was a scholar who loved to read. He studied philosophy and history and believed so strongly in science and the arts that he and his fellow founders empowered Congress to support them. In the last year of his life – at age 83 – he was wise to the ways of people, and Barker thinks Jefferson would be disappointed but not surprised by what’s happening In American politics today.
“As he grows older, he gains a greater hope and faith in man," Barker explains. "As he knows, we’re going to go through periods when we’re faced with storms in politics. We’ll come out of it. The sun will rise. Mankind is capable to work this out.”
You can see Barker’s performance during a special one-hour tour held at the end of each day – Wednesday through Saturday at a cost of $150 per person. It’s filled the details of Jefferson’s life, his deep sorrow at losing his wife Martha after ten blissful years of marriage, along with the respect and fondness he felt for his fellow founders.
