The second source of information comes from an insurance policy that the Madisons purchased in 1808 from the Mutual Assurance Society.  The Society, which is still active today, was founded in 1794 to sell fire insurance throughout the state of Virginia.  While it stopped insuring rural properties in 1822, the Society wrote policies for many rural properties in the first quarter of the 19th century.  Luckily for modern historians, in the course of writing an insurance policy, the insurance agent would often draw rough footprints of the buildings to be insured.  These drawings, many of which survive, are preserved in the company’s files.  The first policy for Montpelier dates from 1808 and records the mansion's pre-ca. 1812 footprint.  The drawing that accompanied the Montpelier policy includes the two porches on the east elevation, the Portico, and another small porch on the south elevation.  Amazingly, in addition to the location, the drawing also records the size of the porches.