James Monroe Tomb to its original state. The restoration took close to a year to complete, and was finished in September 2016. James Monroe Tomb The James Monroe Tomb is the burial place of United States President James Monroe in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia, United States. The principal feature of the tomb is an architecturally unusual cast iron cage, designed by Albert Lybrock and installed in 1859, after Monroe's body was moved from Marble Cemetery in New York City. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971 for its unique architecture. It has been given the local nickname of "The Birdcage". The
James Monroe Unlike Jefferson, Monroe was rarely attacked as an atheist or infidel. In 1832 James Renwick Willson, a Reformed Presbyterian minister in Albany, New York, criticized Monroe for having "lived and died like a second-rate Athenian philosopher." Monroe owned dozens of slaves. According to William Seale, he took several slaves with him to Washington to serve at the White House from 1817 to 1825. This was typical of other slaveholders, as Congress did not provide for domestic staff of the presidents at that time. As president of Virginia's constitutional convention in the fall of 1829, Monroe reiterated his belief that slavery