Yes, they wanted to purchase lots of antiques for the mansion, ones that had been there but were in other hands now.
One of the giant tuliptrees beside Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, which he planted and even named, has been cut down just recently. The larger one was about 8' thick, and I bet that was the one. One of the world's finest. It was hollow according to the article I read, and they had done lots of work to save it, with cables and such. They didn't want to risk it falling on the house. Now they're making nice things out of the wood, so it's a happy story in our ultraconservative and ultrastupid neck of the woods. A few years ago,according to a former employee at TJ's summer home, Poplar Forest (yes, named for the trees he loved most), more than one of the very few ancient tuliptrees near the house was needlessly cut down for fear it would hurt something. They thought it was hollow, but on cutting it down, woops!, it was solid, and older than the time of Jefferson. They made good souvenirs out of it, though. Dan Miles
