James Madison, 4 th President and the Father of the Constitution, was the third generation of his family to live on the Virginia estate known as Montpelier , the basic brick house was completed when James was 9 years old. When James brought his new wife, Dolley, home in 1797, modifications began. Today Montpelier includes over 2,700 acres of rolling pasturelands, gardens, and timber that includes a mixture of trees planted during the Madison era as well as ornamentals and this red maple tree planted in the 20th Century. Montpelier is also home to over 200 acres of old growth timber, known today as the James Madison Landmark Forest .