The Hermitage - President Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson born 1767, Seventh President of the United States.  The Hermitage was his plantation home from 1804 until his death in1845. 

This picture of the Hermitage is actually the third remodel.  The original was a square, two story brick structure.  It was completed in 1818-19 and Andrew and his wife Rachel moved from their log cabin (behind the structure) into the new home.

 

Rachel Jackson, June 15, 1767 - December 22, 1828.  Age 61.

The "scandal" regarding Rachel was her first marriage at age 18.  She left her husband and returned to her home in Nashville.  She met Andrew who was a young attorney boarding at her parents home.  They married shortly after, but apparently before she divorced husband number one. Her first husband divorced her on grounds of bigamy.  She and Andrew then remarried in 1794...their first marriage being nullified.  They never had children but did adopt one of a set of twin boys of Rachel's brother.  He was named Andrew Jackson Jr.  They also adopted two additional boys.  One an Indian, the other the son of her sister.

BTW1:  Andrew Jackson was the only President in American History to pay off the national debt and leave office with the country in the black.

BTW2: The first assassination attempt on a sitting U.S. President occurred on January 30, 1835, when Robert Lawrence failed to slay Andrew Jackson.

BTW3: Andrew Jackson is the only U.S. President to be censured by the U.S. Senate. The censure was expunged in the last year of his presidency.

So the self guided tour begins with the ticket purchase.

BTW4: Andrew Jackson helped found and was the first U.S. President to represent the Democratic Party.

BTW5: Andrew Jackson was the first President to articulate that as President he represented all the people and that the will of the majority must govern.

BTW6: Andrew Jackson exercised his veto power twelve times as President, more than all of his predecessors combined.

Front of the Hermitage.  The tulip tree at the corner dates to Andrew Jackson's time.  There was an orchard of tulip trees at one time.  All the floors and woodwork inside was tulip wood.

No photos were allowed inside.  All furnishings belonged to Andrew Jackson and his family.  The wallpaper in the downstairs entry hall is original from 1827.





The dining room.  There was always a full house of dinner guests.  Friends, soldiers, politicians, etc.

This wallpaper mural cost $40 and was imported from France.  Sounds cheap until you realize you could buy a home and farm for that amount of money in 1818.

The family parlor.

    

BTW7: Andrew Jackson was the first person to serve as a U.S. Representative, Senator, and President.

BTW8: Andrew Jackson was the first Governor of Florida.

BTW9: Andrew Jackson was the first Tennessean to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.

BTW10: Andrew Jackson was the first President from a state west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Andrew Jackson's bedroom.

Outside the mansion we were able to walk the grounds.  

The cabin of Andrew Jackson's most loyal slave, Albert, who was born on the plantation, stands.  The furniture inside was bought by him from the Jackson's estate after Andrew Jackson Jr. bankrupt the estate in 1854.  He lived in this cabin until his death.  When the State of Tennessee made the mansion and grounds into a museum in 1889, he was one of the first guides.  He died in 1901 and is buried just yards from Andrew and Rachel in the Gardens.

  Albert, Uncle Albert.        

Uncle Albert's headstone












Backside of the Hermitage.  This would be the view from Albert's cabin.

Log cabin in the left upper corner is where Rachel and Andrew lived until 1819 when the first rendition of the Hermitage was complete.  She never saw the second or third remodel.

The Springhouse is the well that provided ALL the water for cooking, washing and irrigation to the crops.  It was all hand carried.

Larry and Gail trying to keep up with us.












As we approach the Slave Quarters excavation site we spot five deer.

This picture, taken just past where we saw the deer was excavated in the 1990s.  It was discovered that there were four double cabins.  Each side of the double cabin housed up to 5 families, all total about 80 slaves lived in these four cabins.







Artist rendition of landscape during Andrew Jackson's time.

It's said Andrew Jackson was much harsher with his Overseer than with his slaves.  The average Overseer lasted about 3 years and was poorly paid.

They don't grow cotton on the Hermitage now but they maintain a field of it for tourist to explore and pick.








It was backbreaking work that lasted for weeks until the crop was picked.  Everyday the slaves hands bled.

My first cotton pickin results.



The Garden outside was built for Rachel.  It was a one acre paradise for her enjoyment.  Andrew buried her here and within 4 years had this dome structure erected to cover her grave.  After his presidency was over he returned to Hermitage.  From 1837 until his death he spent at least 30 minutes every evening beside her grave.













A drawing of his death bed.  It was said all the slaves paid homage to him on the outside balcony.

Andrew Jackson is buried next to his beloved wife Rachel in her garden.

 Parting shot of the Hermitage

Rachel's favorite was all roses.

Always the "General"

Though I can't say I liked or agreed with all of Andrew Jackson values, he was a brilliant military figure with an extraordinary mind.  He believed all men were equal, as long as you were white and not a woman.  But he lived 150 years ago in a very different time.  It was the ideals he believed in that applied to white males only that became the device that fueled women's suffrage along with black human rights.  The world that we live in today is as far away from his ideals as he could ever imagine.  I thank him for those tools.  I also thank you for following along with us.  Visit soon.