The Hermitage – Hermitage, Tennessee
Andrew Jackson’s military career brought him personal satisfaction and national fame. Despite his lack of military training, the Tennessee militia elected him major general in 1802. His association with the land that became his home and burial place, started on July 5, 1804, when Nathaniel Hays sold his 425-acre property and two-story farmhouse to Andrew Jackson for $3,400. Jackson called his new home “Rural Retreat,” and later changed it to “The Hermitage,” both indicating a desire to retreat from public life.
History had other plans. Two years before he bought The Hermitage, Jackson was elected Major-General of the Tennessee Militia. Jackson’s successful campaign against the Creek Indians from 1813 to 1814 secured him a promotion to major general in the U.S. Army. He then led the American troops at the most memorable victory of the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans (read more about the battle here Downtown and the Faubourgs), on January 8, 1815. He was one of only two major generals retained in the peacetime army, serving until 1821. His success in battle and national fame would soon launch a second career in politics for Jackson. At The Hermitage, Jackson began to rebuild his fortune producing cotton, and he built one of the first cotton gins in the area for use by him and his neighbors. Jackson also established a store and racetrack at nearby Clover Bottom.
The Hermitage was a simple two-story log farmhouse where Andrew Jackson and his family lived from 1804 to 1821. A separate log kitchen and slave quarters kept those functions separate. The first floor room was 24 feet by 26 feet and used for entertaining, dining, and as Jackson’s office. The second floor contained two bedchambers and a stair hall. The interior was finished with beaded and molded trim as well as hand-painted wallpaper. After moving into the brick mansion in 1821, Jackson removed the first floor to convert the two-story farmhouse into a single-story slave quarters, which still stands about 300 yards behind the mansion.
Despite his frequent absences, The Hermitage prospered. Overseers managed the farm and Jackson consulted with Rachel and nearby relatives and friends about their performance. Jackson’s prosperity grew because he was producing more cotton. In addition to increasing profits from the farm, his salary as commander of the southern military district improved his financial status.
In 1819, Jackson decided to build a new brick house. One reason for the need of a new house was the ever-growing number of visitors. Jackson’s position as army commander insured officers and their wives would add to the crowd of admirers visiting The Hermitage. The Jacksons traveled to Florida, and to Washington, DC, but Rachel much preferred to be home.
Visitors to the brick mansion got their first good look at his home as they rounded the graceful curves of its cedar-lined carriage drive. Jackson carefully staged visitors’ impressions of his mansion and farm. The direct frontal view disguised the fact that the Greek Revival facade did not continue around the sides of the house. For family members nad most visitors, his Greek Revival mansion symbolized Americans’ celebration of their liberty and love of democracy. The enslaved people and social reformers the Greek Revival design sent a clear signal about Jackson’s own personal status. For them, it represented slavery and the failings of American democracy. An interpretive marker captures this juxtaposition: “In warm hospitality, around-the-clock exhausting labor, peaceful moment or contentious discussion, Jackson’s home spoke powerfully to many people in many ways over the years. And it still does. If we listen.”
On December 22, 1828, Rachel Jackson unexpectedly died at age 61. Rachel began to seriously decline after the Jacksons returned from Washington in 1825. The problems seemed to be with her heart and lungs. As Jackson began his second campaign for the White House, the personal and political attacks mounted, adding stress and depression to Rachel’s medical problems. She feared facing Washington society. Just after the election confirmed that Jackson would be the next president, Rachels final illness began. Two days after her death, Jackson had Rachel laid to rest in her garden that she loved so much. Throngs of people attended the funeral with Sam Houston leading the pallbearers. Weeks after her death Jackson would tell John Coffee “my heart is nearly broke.” He always blamed his political enemies for her death, especially Henry Clay, even though her medical problems had begun many years earlier.
During Jackson’s presidency, he only visited The Hermitage four times, staying a month or two in late summer or early fall. In his absence, Andrew Junior managed the farm, with the assistance of constantly changing overseers. Despite the press of duties in Washington, Jackson remained interested in farm operations and frequently requested more details about situations. President Jackson often criticized Jackson Junior. Toward the end of Jackson’s first term, he hired architect David Morrison to design a tomb for Rachel, as well as make some improvements to the mansion. Unfortunately, in the fall of 1834, a fire heavily damaged the house and it had to be remodeled again.
Around 1831, Andrew Jackson purchased a carriage from the Brewster Carriage Works of New Haven, Connectictu, for the luxurious sum of $1,000 (or $36,785 in 2025 dollars). The Brewster could comfortably sit four people. He used this carriage while in Washington and then brought it back to The Hermitage in 1837. The Democratic-Republican citizens of Philadelphia gave Jackson the Phaeton just before he left office. Jackson rode together with his hand-picked successor, Martin Van Buren, to the latter’s inauguration in the Phaeton on March 4, 1837. The wood in its construction came from timbers removed from the U.S.S. Constitution during a retrofit in the 1830s. Knowles and Thayer of Amherst, Massachusetts, built the Phaeton.
Jackson and his family continued to use both carriages for many years to come, mainty to travel back and forth to Nashville. In 1897, the Ladies’ Hermitage Association purchased the Brewster Carriage from the Jackson family. Taht same year a fire badly damaged the Phaeton leaving only its metal skeleton and a few pieces of its wood seat intact. The Jackson family sold the remains of the Phaeton to the Ladies’ Hermitage Association in 1898. In the late 1960s, skilled craftsmen restored the Brewster Carriage, but the Phaeton still awaits its restoration (as of 2012).
As an interesting aside, should people desire a horse-drawn wagon ride and a guided tour, reservations may be made at the ticket office and tours depart every 45 minutes from behind the mansion.
After coming home from Washington in 1837, the Hermitage mansion was newly remodeled in the fashionable Greek Revival style. Andrew Jackson had the guitar-shaped driveway laid out. The drive’s “S” shape was decorative but also made it easier to maneuver carriages in this narrow space. Jackson supervised the planting of eastern red cedars, a native Tennessee tree, that line the drive and the fences of the narrow yard. Many have died from disease and storm damage so only a few of the trees remain. A tornado that struck The Hermitage on April 16, 1998 devastated the cedars on the carriage drive.
In 1838 Sarah’s widowed sister, Marion, and her children came to live at The Hermitage. This made for a lively household in Jackson’s retirement, with Andrew Junior, Sarah, their three children, as well as Marion and her three children. One visitor remarked, “The HErmitage is almost constantly thronged with company” as the stream of visitors intensified in JAckson’s retirement years. Everyone from President Martin Van Buren and presidential hopeful James Polk to passing college students visited.
Although cotton remained Jackson’s cash crop, prices dropped as white farmers converted former Indian land to cotton production (a byproduct of policies Jackson had put in place). Middle Tennessee, with its shorter growing season, was not prime cotton growing land. Jackson knew he and his son would have to change the way they did business. In 1838, they purchased property in Mississippi where Andrew Junior developed a cotton plantation in a more suitable area. The Jacksons sent some enslaved people from The Hermitage and an overseer managed daily operations.
After Jackson’s death, national economic forces as well as Andrew Jackson Junior’s own business mistakes led to financial problems. In addition, Andrew Junior, unlike his father, never had a salary from government positions to add to the family’s income. By 1856, the situation had become untenable. Andrew Junior sold the portion of The Hermitage containing the mansion tot he state of Tennessee, as his father had wished. The state offered it as a southern branch of the United States Military Academy, but Congress turned it down. He sold the remaining acreage to private owners.
Andrew Junior purchased a plantation on the Gulf Coast and he and Sarah moved there. In 1860, he sold it and bought a plantation in Delhi, Louisiana, but with the Civil War looming, he leased back the Hermitage mansion and farm from the state and moved back to Tennessee. The number of enslaved people at The Hermitage, already diminished by a cholara epidemic, sales made for business reasons, and the movement of some to Louisiana, grew even smaller as enslaved people freed themselves during the war. Just a few days after the surrender at Appomattox in 1865, Andrew Jackson Junior sustained injuries in a hunting accident and died of tetanus.
The Hermitage During the Civil War
Although no Civil War battles were fought at The Hermitage, the war touched Andrew Jackson’s farm in other ways. Jackson had been a firm Unionist, putting down nullification and its potential for civil war during his presidency. After his death, however, his adopted son Andrew Jackson Jr. and his wife, Sarah, supported the south. When Tennessee seceded, the president’s grandsons joined the Confederate army, as did two of Sarah Jackson’s nephews who also were reared at The Hermitage. Three of the young men died, and Andrew Jackson III was taken prisoner twice. Livestock was impounded and other kinds of damage done at The Hermitage. Nashville fell to the Union army in February 1862 and remained in Federal hand until the end of the war in 1865. Members of both sides in the conflict visited The Hermitage during the war, despite it being in Confederate territory.
On August 22, 1862, the Natchez Daily Courier reported that “Mrs. Andrew Jackson, Jr., and her sister, Mrs. Adams… most cordially received Gen. [Nathan Bedford] Forest and Col. Lawton. A large party of ladies and gentlemen had come down from Nashville to celebrate the [anniversary of the] battle of Manassas (21st July) at the Hermitage…, and the arrival of Gen. Forrest increased the enthusiasm and delight of the party, the ladies evincing the wildest joy and patriotism, and a ‘good time’ prevailed generally.” The same day that Forest visited he learnt of his promotion from colonel to general.
Another account comes from Major J.A. Brents, of the 1st Kentucky Cavalry (Union) who visited on May 8, 1862:
We stopped at the Hermitage and visited the tomb of the great Jackson. Our little band dismounted, and in double file marched around the tomb. It was a solemn scene, and made a strong impression upon all. Mr. Jackson, the proprietor, was not at home. We were waited upon by an old negro who had been one of General Jackson’s attendants.
In 1867, C.C. Giers took a series of stereographs of The Hermitage including an image of the Jackson tomb. The photographs show that The Hermitage as a whole was in a state of disrepair, especially the garden. After Jackson’s death, his family’s fortunes continued to dwindle leaving little money for garden work. The enslaved people who worked the garden also disappeared as the family sold off enslaved people to cover debts and as others fled for freedom during the Civil War.
From the Brink of Ruin to Preservation
The death of Andrew Jackson Junior, Samuel Jackson, and the emancipation of the enslaved community left Andrew Jackson’s daughter-in-law, Sarah, and her remaining son, Andrew II, to run The Hermitage in radically changed circumstances. The Jacksons moved to subsistence agriculture carried out by tenant farmers and hired help. They grew very little cotton and eventually abandoned it completely, as did nearly all of their neighbors. The Jacksons ventured into dairy cows and sold butter to supplement their income. The farm and mansion deteriorated. Although the state of Tennessee still owned the farm, the state apparently interferred minimally in operations until the 1880s, when the legislature began to take a new interest and filed a number of reports. In 1883, the state had an iron fence built around Jackson’s tomb. Andrew Jackson III married a schoolteacher, Amy Rich, and they had two sons, Andrew IV and Albert. Sarah’s sister Marion died in 1877, and in 1887 Sarah Jackson died.
After Sarah’s death, the State of Tennessee believed its obligation to the Jackson family was completed. Officials began making plans for the Hermitage and decided to use the mansion as a home for poor and disabled Confederate veterans and the farm to support the home. Amy Rich Jackson rallied several prominent Nashville women, including members of the Donelson family, to organize the Ladies’ Hermitage Association. In 1889, the state gave the LHA the mansion and 25 surrounding acres to operate. The remaining property became the Tennessee Confederate Soldiers Home, housed in a new dormitory style building. Andrew Jackson, III and his family moved out of The Hermitage in 1892.
The Ladies’ Hermitage Association but re-establishment of the garden high on their priority list when they took over The Hermitage in 1889. With few paper records to consult, they had to rely on what remained of the garden, family memories (especially those of Jackson’s granddaughter Rachel), and their own ideas of what an “old fashioned” garden should look like. A four-square garden design with central beds dates back to the middle ages. The Hermitage garden plan reflects this English tradition.
Because the Jacksons left very few lists of their garden plants, gardeners at The Hermitage simply plant flowers, vines, and shrubs available in the U.S. before the Civil War. This means there are not modern hybrids such as tea roses or more recently introduced plants like impatiens here.
The LHA opened the mansion and garden to the public, although in some ways, The Hermitage had been open to the public since before Andrew Jackson’s death. Visitor accounts throughout the nineteenth century testify that people from all walks of life visited Jackson’s home. In The Hermitage’s early days as a museum, visiting the site was difficult. Located twelve miles from downtown Nashville, visitors in pre-automobile days came by buggy, railroad, and even boat, The dwindling number of Confederate veterans led the state to close The Tennessee Confederate Soldiers Home in the early 1930s and the state turned over management of the remaining 500 acres to the LHA. In 1961, the National Park Service designated The Hermitage a National Historic Landmark. Today the LHA manages all 1,120 acres of Jackson’s original plantation, along with the Hermitage Church and Tulip Grove mansion.
Stories from Enslaved People at The Hermitage
This fairly remarkable exhibit was produced in honor of Black History Month with funds from the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority. It recounts stories of specific slaves often with photographs of each person. There were 150 enslaved African Americans who worked at The Hermitage. Their stories have emerged from documents, archaeology, and oral tradition to give an image of enslaved people at The Hermitage.
Tour of Building and Grounds
There is much to see on this 1,120 acre site. We had time to visit the Mansion and Jackson’s Tomb. The Hermitage Church was built by Andrew Jackson and his neighbors as a place of worship. The First Hermitage log farmhouse was two stories when Andrew Jackson lived in it from 1804 to 1821. After they built the brick mansion their log farmhouse became housing for enslaved people and it was reduced to one story. The field quarter is one of three living areas for enslaved people at The Hermitage and is today an archaeological site. Finally, a 1.5 mile trail is one of the largest parcels of undeveloped land in metropolitan Nashville. The Hermitage is also a Certified Tennessee Arboretum.
The carriage drive was entered through gates where the drive meets Rachel’s Lane. A slight hill in between the gate and the mansion hit their view of the house until they progressed farther along the drive. In 1915, the Ladies’ Hermitage Association planted a double line of trees to serve as a border for a new entryway intended for visitors arriving by automobile. Each tree came from a battlefield where Andrew Jackson fought, such as the Plain of Chalmette near NEw ORleans and Horseshoe Bend and Talladega in Alabama. This drive was originally named the “War Path” but over the years it became known as the “War Road.” Species of trees lining the road include sugar maple, willow oak, black cherry, sweet gum, and cedar.
Interpreters greeted guests at the front door of the brick mansion.
A panorama showing the rear of the house, also in hexastyle formation, albeit with simpler columns than the front. Biloggial, it has access to both the first and second floors providing outdoor living area for mansion inhabitants.
A division between the private living areas and the more utilitarian service and agricultural areas of the plantation was evident and marked by a picket fence.
The Garden Privy or necessary is something of a mystery. No documents or illustrations record the presence of such a building when the Jackson family lived on the property. Archaeological evidence suggests that an older building may have stood here during Andrew Jackson’s lifetime. Mansion residents would have made use of chamber pots kept in the bedrooms, making this structure more of a status symbol or a garden embellishment, than something necessary for everyday life. The structure here was probably built or renovated in the 1890’s as a restroom for Hermitage visitors.
The Education and Administration Buildings were not part of Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage. They were built by the Works Progress Administration in 1936. Today the building holds the Administrative Offices of The Ladies’ Hermitage Association, but originally served as the Hermitage caretaker’s residence. The Education Center contains the classroom and offices for the Hermitage Hands-on-History program. When completed in 1954, it housed the Hermitage gift shop. Neither building is open for tours.
Tulip Grove was a home for Andrew Jackson’s protege.
Regular screenings of a movie on Andrew Jackson occur here.
Andrew Jackson’s Tomb
Jackson’s home was popular with soldiers and military units. The colored illustration with the flag in the center is of the Chatham Artillery (Savannah, Georgia) at Jackson’s tomb in June 1859. During the time of the Civil War several visiting soldiers commented on the poor condition of The Hermitage. Private Benjamin Smith, 51st Illinois Infantry, wrote, “The place must have been a fine one in its palmy days, but now through neglect it’s pretty well run to weeds.” Four sitting U.S. presidents have visited The Hermitage since it opened as a museum in 1889. Presidents who visited include Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Ronald Reagan visited along with countless other dignitaries. A postcard above shows President Theodore Roosevelt with Regent Mary Dorris in 1907.
Jackson’s tomb is surrounded by those he cared for in life. He deeded a small portion of the garden in trust to serve as a family cemetery. Stones mark the graves of sixteen family members, and one family friend. The interpretive marker has silhouettes of monuments with a corresponding number to visually identify each one.