A feature of the Academic Village of the University of Virginia, it's simply, a wall. But not just any wall. It's a serpentine wall, one of the few in America, that has a single depth of bricks, that follows a sinusoidal curve. OK, for those who know about brick walls, this is just one of Jefferson's Great Ideas, you see the photographs, you figure this is going on for about a few yards or meters, and that's going to be it. They'd have a dedicated team of custodians, who keep this thing from falling over or getting loose mortar or lichen, and that's it. Brick walls have a wydth (yup, that's how it's spelled) of two bricks, this has one, hoo-hah.

Not a chance. When you actually see it, it goes on for miles. Even out in the open, with no building or even people around. And it's old. Here in the East Coast, where there's old stuff, and really old stuff, and really, really old stuff, this is really old. You know just by looking at it. It's been through stuff, and it's still there. So it's not just a one-time, experimental deal.

Letdown number one: he didn't invent it. It's called a crinkle crankle wall, back in Merrie England, where in Suffolk they use it to shelter fruit trees from inclement weather while allowing them a maximum amount of Sun. Similar walls have been found in Ancient Egypt, where they're associated with the reign of 'Mad' King Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Letdown two: They were built with slave labor, and some of the wall was used to hide the slave quarters from the view of the regular folks. Humph! Anyway, there's a plaque on the "bad" side of the wall, and a memorial on the ground outlining how tiny the cabins were.

Still, it's impressive.