President James Monroe's 'plain' and 'humble' cottage was actually just his guesthouse. He lived in a mansion.

James Monroe may have lived more lavishly than we had thought.

(Image credit: James Monroes Highland/Facebook)

published 10 May 2016

Turns out, James Monroe's home, which people have now been touring for decades, wasn't actually where the country's fifth president lived. A recent investigation of the home's history revealed that the humble, two-room abode thought to be Monroe's was actually just his guesthouse. Not far away from the cottage, researchers now know, lies a fieldstone foundation for a much larger house, that measures approximately 74 feet by 30 feet, The New York Times reports. The mansion likely burned down after Monroe sold the property.

"These exceptionally well-preserved remains are just beneath the ground," said Sara Bon-Harper, the executive director of Highland, the homestead where Monroe lived with his wife from 1799 until 1823. "This finding represents a breakthrough in how the nation understands Monroe and how he lived." Previously, Monroe was thought to be a man of simple tastes.

But — despite Monroe's joke that he lived in a "cabin-castle" — some experts had a hunch that Monroe wasn't actually living in that modest cottage. Newspapers and insurance clippings also offered evidence of a bigger house, The New York Times reports. "Whenever I was there, I had an uncomfortable feeling," Brian Broadus, a local preservation architect, said. "He lived in Paris — he's not the guy who's going to have a plain house."