BGuthrie Photos: TN -- Hermitage -- Home of President Andrew Jackson

TN -- Hermitage -- Home of President Andrew Jackson:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. HERMIT_070124_003.JPG: Welcome to the Hermitage! Your Tour Includes... The Hermitage includes a number of sites: The Hermitage Mansion: The plantation's centerpiece is Andrew Jackson's 1836 mansion. The restored home features almost all original furnishings. Tours are guided by historically costumed docents. Museum: Exhibits showcase period artifacts and personal possessions trace milestones in Jackson's military and political career and his life at The Hermitage. The museum features regularly changing exhibits. The Garden: The one-acre formal garden is located next to the mansion. The garden is especially beautiful in the spring and early summer when many period flowers are in bloom. Introductory Film: Enter the world of Andrew Jackson. This 16-minute film provides an overview of the life of our nation's seventh president. First Hermitage: These cabins were part of a complex that was home to the Jacksons from 1804 to 1821 when the mansion was built. The Tomb: Andrew and Rachel Jackson are buried in the corner of the garden. The family cemetery is located next to the tomb. Tulip Grove: (Open seasonally) Tours of this mansion, built in 1836 for Jackson's nephew, trace the evolution of its ownership and architecture. Hermitage Church: (Open seasonally) Andrew Jackson and his neighbors funded this church which was finished in 1824. Archeological Excavation: (Summer months) Watch archeologists at work searching for artifacts and building locations that reveal more about life at The Hermitage.
2. HERMIT_070124_087.JPG: The Hermitage: Frontier Farm to American Landmark: For visitors today, The Hermitage may mean only Andrew Jackson's house. For Jackson, it meant his whole farm. Today's deceptively park-line Hermitage bears little resemblance to the busy cotton plantation that was Andrew Jackson's Hermitage. The story of The Hermitage -- how these 1000 acres changed from frontier forest to Andrew Jackson's prosperous farm then deteriorated to post-Civil War dilapidation and finally recused to its current state as a public museum and National Historic Landmark -- mirrors many stories in American history. These stories of Indians, white men moving west, slavery and freedom, the changing roles of women, religion and reform, and the fortunes made from cotton are the stories of Jacksonian America. Eli Whitney's development of a cotton gin to remove the seeds from cotton, made growing cotton in the South profitable. At the same time, the textile industry began to develop in Europe and New England placing cotton in high demand and fueling the cotton boom in the South. Cotton would not have been valuable without the industrial revolution. Cotton mills in England and the northern United States spurred cotton production. Senator Charles Sumner called it an "unholy union... between the cotton planters and fleshmongers of Louisiana and Mississippi and the cotton spinners and traffickers of New England -- between the lords of the lash and the lords of the loom." In Jackson's day, this mansion served as the centerpiece of a community made up of the white Jackson family, the African-American slaves, the overseer, the Jackson family's many visitors and all the buildings and workspaces it took to run the farm. Most evidence of this lively society has disappeared from today's landscape. Enslaved workers provided the year-round labor required to grow and process cotton. When Jackson arrived at The Hermitage in 1804, he owned nine slaves, but by the time of his death he owned at least 150 slaves. Most southern plantations had 20 or fewer slaves so The Hermitage was quite large in comparison.
3. HERMIT_070124_095.JPG: Cotton Production at The Hermitage: The Hermitage was a plantation -- an industrialized farm that depended on one cash crop -- not a self-sustaining family farm that fed and clothed its occupants but produced little cash. By 1860, scholars classify only twelve percent of Southern farms as plantations, and most of those were much smaller than The Hermitage, having only 20 to 30 slaves. Jackson ran The Hermitage as a profit-making venture with a distinct division between labor and management. He grew cotton as his cash crop. All of the other crops grown at The Hermitage supported the cotton crop, by either feeding the work force and animals or providing raw materials for rope and other shipping needs. Jackson kept some of the cotton for use at The Hermitage, but he sold the majority of the crop for cash or credit in New Orleans. Although Andrew Jackson and his son chose cotton farming as their main profit making enterprise, they also invested in land and other businesses in much the same way a modern corporation looks for multiple money-making opportunities. After ginning and bailing, Jackson shipped his cotton to market by steamboat. Steamboats were a vast improvement over flatboats, but dry fall weather and low water levels sometimes delayed cotton shipping until late winter. Once Jackson's cotton reached New Orleans, his agent took care of selling the cotton and credited Jackson's account. Everything affected Jackson's profit: the amount of cotton harvested, the price, the weight of the bales, the shipping, and commission. In May 1834, Jackson to his son "I have calculated the crop of cotton at 37875 lbs... This at 12 cents [per pound] will produce $454; will net after freight and commissions about $4000." At the peak of operation, Jackson had more than 100 slaves working in the fields. Since Jackson based the amount of cotton he planted on how much the available labor force could pick, he planted only a portion of The Hermitage's approximately 1000 acres in cotton. Slaves picked the cotton by hand in Jackson's day, with each slave picking between 200 and 300 pounds each day.
4. HERMIT_070124_109.JPG: Jackson's Last Years at The Hermitage, 1837-1845: Andrew Jackson came home from Washington in 1837 to a Hermitage mansion newly remodeled in the fashionable Greek Revival style. In 1838, Sarah's widowed sister, Marion, and her children came to live at The Hermitage. This made The Hermitage 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. 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 could develop a cotton plantation in a more suitable area. The Jacksons sent some slaves there from The Hermitage and an overseer managed daily operations.
5. HERMIT_070124_110.JPG: The Lives of The Hermitage Slave Community: When Andrew Jackson died in 1845, The Hermitage was home to a varied community of people including the Jackson family, their guests, the overseer and his family, and about 150 African-American slaves. When Andrew and Rachel first moved to The Hermitage in 1804, they had nine slaves. The enslaved population grew as Jackson prospered. He bought additional slaves through the years and the slaves formed families and had children. Jackson rarely sold a slave. When Andrew Jackson left for Washington in 1829, around eighty slaves lived and worked at The Hermitage. Their labor was essential to the maintenance of The Hermitage mansion and surrounding property. Slaves at The Hermitage were assigned work in three different spheres: agricultural, domestic, and skilled tasks. Most worked in Jackson's cotton, corn, and wheat fields. At least ten slaves worked at skilled occupations such as blacksmithing, sewing, carpentry and weaving. About eleven slaves worked at domestic tasks around the mansion such as cooking and housework. Each enslaved family at The Hermitage had their own dwelling. By the 1820s, almost all slave housing on the property consisted of a 20 by 20 foot room, with a fireplace for cooking and heating. These dwellings were clustered together in three locations near different work areas on the plantation. ... In the 1840s, there were about twenty Hermitage slave families with an average of six children each. Jackson encouraged stable families because family-based slave communities proved easier to discipline, control, and support. In turn, familiar and communal links provided structure and strong connections for those who lived as Jackson's slaves.
6. HERMIT_070124_121.JPG: Hard Times at The Hermitage, 1845-1865: 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 to the 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 Jackson's adopted son tried to live up to his father's standards but never met with success. He tried lead mining and iron smelting in Kentucky as well as farming cotton in Mississippi and Louisiana. Accidents, natural disasters, and overwhelming debt brought failure in every venture. "We offer for sale... the remaining half of 1,000 acres of the Hermitage tract, situated about 12 miles from Nashville, near the Lebanon Pike, about 200 acres finely timbered. Several fine springs, good cotton gin, overseer's house, saw mill, four double brick negro cabins, blacksmith and carpenter's shops &c. All persons wishing to buy one of the choicest farms in the State, should by all means examine the above before purchasing..." -- Nashville Union & American, June 28, 1856 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 the Hermitage mansion and farm from the state and moved back to Tennessee. The number of slaves at The Hermitage, already diminished by a cholera epidemic, sales made for business reasons, and the movement of some to Louisiana, grew even smaller as slaves freed themselves during the war simply by leaving. Just a few days after the surrender at Appomattox, Andrew Jackson Junior sustained injuries in a hunting accident and died of tetanus. Andrew Jackson III (1834-1906) graduated from West Point and served in the U.S. Army until resigning his commission to join the Confederate Army at the start of the Civil War. An artillery colonel, Jackson III was taken prisoner at the siege of Vicksburg in 1863 and not freed until after the Civil War's conclusion. "Little" Rachel Jackson (1832-1923) attended boarding school in Virginia during the late 1840s. She married Dr. John Lawrence in 1853 and moved to a nearby farm named Birdsong. Rachel and John had nine children.
7. HERMIT_070124_125.JPG: The Hermitage on the Brink of Ruin, 1865-1889: 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 III, 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 the mansion deteriorated. Although the state of Tennessee still owned the farm, the state apparently interfered little 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. The Tennessee General Assembly took a special interest in the preservation of Andrew and Rachel Jackson's Tomb. In 1883, the Assembly had an iron fence installed to protect the tomb. The Assembly also recommended that the tomb's roof be repaired, but never allocated any funds for the work. "We report the house in bad condition, the roof leaky and out of repair, the woodwork being in a decaying condition. Mortar had dropped out of the chimneys, rendering them liable to fall." -- Tennessee Legislative Journal, February 26, 1883
8. HERMIT_070124_133.JPG: The Hermitage: A National Historic Landmark: 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, houses in a new dormitory style building. Andrew Jackson III and his family moved out of The Hermitage in 1892. 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 through out [sic] the nineteenth century testify that people from all walks of life felt free to visit 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 1000 acres of Andrew Jackson's original plantation, along with the Hermitage Church and Tulip Grove mansion. By the 1930s, most visitors came to The Hermitage by automobile. In response, the LHA built a new entrance road, parking lot, museum, and gift shop. The Works Progress Administration helped the LHA construct several of these buildings.... The museum stood just a few yards away from the mansion.
9. HERMIT_070124_140.JPG: Mary Baxter, first regent of the Ladies' Hermitage Association, served in office for ten years despite failing health. The daughter of plantation owners from near Columbia, Tennessee, her husband was a judge. According to "Preservation of The Hermitage," Mrs. Baxter's organizational skills, honed through church work and her family's political and business ties, made her an invaluable founding leader.
10. HERMIT_070124_151.JPG: Ronald Reagan was the last sitting president to visit The Hermitage. He came on Andrew Jackson's birthday, March 15, 1982.
11. HERMIT_070124_155.JPG: After Andrew Jackson Junior's death, the executors sold the contents of The Hermitage mansion to settle the estate. Sarah Jackson purchased most of the items, but some things went outside of the family. Former slave Alfred Jackson acquired one of the mansion beds, a water cooler, a mirror, and several other pieces and used them to furnish his cabin. After Alfred's death in 1901, the LHA bought the items from his heirs and re-placed them in the mansion. This photograph showing the bed and part of the water cooler was probably taken on the day of Alfred's funeral.
12. HERMIT_070124_157.JPG: Andrew Jackson's Early Years at The Hermitage, 1804-1815: On July 5, 1804, Nathaniel Hays sold his 425-acre property and two-story farmhouse to Andrew Jackson for $3,400. Hays soon moved to newly opened Indian territory south of Nashville. Jackson first called his new farm, "Rural Retreat," but soon changed the name to The Hermitage. Both names meant the same thing and apparently signified Jackson's desire to retire from public life. Despite his intentions, Jackson never retired from public life. Two years before he bought The Hermitage, Jackson was elected Major-General of the Tennessee Militia. Although he had little military experience, his friends and neighbors recognized him as a community leader. Jackson's service during the War of 1812, including the quelling of the Creek Indian uprising in Alabama and his defeat of a superior British Army at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815, brought him to national fame and would soon launch a second career in politics for Jackson. At The Hermitage, Jackson began to rebuild his fortune. His nine slaves grew cotton and he built one of the first cotton gins in the area. The gin not only saved him the cost of having someone else gin his cotton, but it also served as a money-maker as he ginned his neighbors' cotton for a fee. Jackson also established a store and racetrack at nearby Clover Bottom. The fine furniture the Jacksons acquired during their residence in the log Hermitage attests to the lifestyle they enjoyed in this house. Nashville cabinetmakers created the majority of the furniture. Jackson's first military fame came from leading the Tennessee Militia against the Creeks during the War of 1812. It was Jackson's first step in securing the Southeast for white settlement.
13. HERMIT_070124_164.JPG: Rachel Jackson's Hermitage, 1815-1828: Despite Jackson's frequent absences, The Hermitage prospered. Overseers managed the farm and Jackson consulted with Rachel as well as nearby relatives and friends about their performance. Jackson's prosperity grew because he was growing more cotton. In addition to increasing profits from the farm, his salary as commander of the south military district, largely overseeing Indian relations, improved his financial status in these years. In 1819, Jackson decided to built a new brick house, the only version of the brick house that Rachel ever knew. One reason for the need for 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 family, admirers, and other guests. Rachel enjoyed the company at The Hermitage. The Jacksons traveled to Florida and to Washington, but Rachel much preferred to be at home. In December 1828, just as the Jacksons were preparing to leave for Washington after Andrew Jackson's election as the seventh president of the United States, Rachel Jackson died. "Mrs. Jackson seems to possess a mind congenial to the General. No consequential airs, no hauteur, no offence because a salutation is not given with an exact inclination to the right or left... but is affable, sociable, and kind, and by her courteous demeanor, makes every guest feel himself at ease and happy in her society." -- Unidentified from Pittsburgh, 1827. Many distinguished visitors, including President James Monroe and the Marquis de Lafayette, visited The Hermitage because of Andrew Jackson's national fame after New Orleans. "No person of respectability visited that part of the country at the time I was there without making a call upon the General. He kept open doors, and seldom sat down to dinner with fewer than 20 guests." -- Anonymous, The Pittsfield [Mass.], Sun, July 2, 1829.
14. HERMIT_070124_170.JPG: The Master Is Away, 1829-1837: 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 who dealt with daily operations. As when Rachel was alive, nearby friends visited and sent Jackson reports on the farm and the health and welfare of the slaves. Despite the press of duties in Washington, Jackson remained interested in farm operations and frequently requested more details about situations. Andrew Junior's management of the farm seems to have frustrated Jackson intensely. Only twenty when Jackson went to Washington, Jackson often criticized Andrew Junior regarding farming decisions. In 1834, he wrote, "When you calculate the amount of rope and bailing used by you this year for about 38,000 pounds of cotton, you will find that when I was at home, I sent to market 50,000 pounds of cotton at the same expense that you have thirty-eight. This, my son, is bad economy." 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 Hermitage mansion. Unfortunately, in the fall of 1834, a fire heavily damaged the house and it had to be remodeled again.
15. HERMIT_070124_176.JPG: Although Andrew Jackson kept this undated article from a Nashville newspaper on Indian Removal west of the Mississippi, he made no notation on the filing sleeve his reaction to it. The author, who signed the article under the pseudonym "Agricola," compares the removal of the Indians to a son getting married and moving from home -- that it was a timely and necessary thing that no wise parent would prevent.
16. HERMIT_070124_260.JPG: A Hermitage Slave Dwelling
17. HERMIT_070124_274.JPG: A Hermitage Slave Dwelling: This log cabin is an example of the housing provided for the Hermitage slave community. This building is arranged as a duplex, with each 20x20 foot half intended as the home of one family. Most slave husbands and wives at The Hermitage had more than five and sometimes as many as ten children, guaranteeing crowded conditions within these buildings. Use of the attic loft as a sleeping space and the outside as the primary living area in good weather lessened the cramped conditions to some degree. There were at least ten similar dwellings, many made of brick, scattered around The Hermitage property during the 1820s through the 1840s. By undocumented tradition, this building was moved here from another site on the Hermitage property in the 1850s. At some point after emancipation, it became the home of a freedman, Alfred Jackson, who had been born into slavery at The Hermitage about 1812. Alfred stayed on as caretaker and tour guide after The Ladies' Hermitage Association took over administration of the property in 1889. Upon his death in 1901, he was buried, at his request, in the garden beside the Jackson tomb.
18. HERMIT_070124_284.JPG: Slavery at The Hermitage: Slaves at The Hermitage, as at most southern plantations, were first and foremost a source of labor -- working the cotton and other crops grown on the property, handling the livestock, and helping to run the busy Jackson family household. But slavery was never just a matter of economics and efficient farm production, as the institution effected every facet of life at The Hermitage and throughout the antebellum South. The Hermitage was once home to more than 140 enslaved African-Americans, by far the largest number of slaves on any farm in Davidson County. This made the ratio of black to white Hermitage residents at least ten to one. Once The Hermitage entered its peak years of operation after 1820, Andrew Jackson bought and sold few slaves. During this period, the number of slaves increased as a result of a high birth rate and low death rate within the slave community. After Jackson's death in 1845, his family suffered through financially hard times that forced them to sell many Hermitage slaves. Of the small number of slaves left in the hands of the Jackson family at the time of the Civil War, nearly all chose to leave The Hermitage when freedom came. People writing about The Hermitage during Jackson's lifetime made little direct mention of slave life. Today, efforts are underway to piece together knowledge about The Hermitage's African-American community through careful analysis of documentary sources and through on-going archeological investigations. The goal of this research is to restore the Hermitage slave community to its prominent place within the story of life at this Tennessee plantation.
19. HERMIT_070124_305.JPG: This is the original Hermitage house for Andrew Jackson and his wife. It originally had two stories but was reduced to one story after the Jackson's moved into the new brick home as it became a slave quarters.
20. HERMIT_070124_309.JPG: Belted Galloway cattle
21. HERMIT_070124_314.JPG: Farmhouse Kitchen
22. HERMIT_070124_321.JPG: The Belted Galloway: The Belted Galloway is an heirloom breed of beef cattle originating in the mountainous region of Galloway in southwestern Scotland. A hardy breed, they are naturally polled (hornless) and are distinguished by their thick heavy coats and white belt banding their middle. Their unique hair coat is an inner downy layer called the undercoat and an outer layer called the overcoat. The long hair of the overcoat gives the Belted Galloway its shaggy appearance. This double coat provides the animal a shield of insulation of over 4000 hairs to the square inch and because of this natural insulation they have little backfat. They are expert foragers. This versatile breed is known for longevity and can adapt well to any locale. Known for their maternal instincts and natural calving ability, a cow will raise a calf every year providing her youngster with rich milk. They are disease resistant, moderate sized, quiet, docile, and easily handled. While Andrew Jackson would not have had this particular breed, he did have livestock on The Hermitage. In 1833, it is recorded that he had 300 hogs, 60 cows and yearlings, 22 calves, 9 sheep and 59 lambs. It is believed that the cattle were Herefords or Durhams.
23. HERMIT_070124_328.JPG: Abandonment and Preservation: After the Civil War, the log farmhouse/salve cabin slowly fell into ruin. In 1889, the State entrusted the property to The Ladies' Hermitage Association and they immediately restored the one-story remains of the farmhouse as a monument to Andrew Jackson. For many years, visitors to The Hermitage mistakenly believed that Jackson lived in a crude one-story frontier log cabin because the history of this building as a slave cabin went untold. Since the early 1970s, historical and archeological research on the farmhouse and the nearby kitchen has revealed a wealth of new information about the enslaved African Americans who lived here, as well as the appearance of the house during Jackson's residence. Armed with this information, in 2005, a major restoration of these buildings was completed to the period after 1821 when slaves occupied both buildings. Although restored as slave cabins, they tell both stories -- that of Andrew Jackson's life here and that of his slaves.
24. HERMIT_070124_340.JPG: Slave Cabin (1821-1865): After the Jackson family moved to the new brick mansion in 1821, there was a greater separation between the family and the salves. As Jackson added more slaves, the role of the white overseer, who directed the daily activities of all but the house slaves, assumed greater importance. When the farmhouse was converted to a slave cabin, the slaves altered the entire area in subtle ways. Archeological excavations have uncovered a number of unique features that can be attributed to the enslaved occupants of these buildings. Several of the more prominent features added by the slaves were made of brick. Jackson began to produce brick on the property when he built the brick mansion and unusable, over-fired, or discolored bricks were readily available to the slaves as building material. Outside, slaves paved a small area with brick for space to prepare meals and for general socializing. The slaves probably used another brick feature, a small outdoor fire pit, during the months when roaring fires made the cabin interiors intolerable. Be sure to notice: In the corner of the room near the door, note that the daubing has been left off so you can see the chinking between the logs.
25. HERMIT_070124_343.JPG: How Do We Know?: There are no maps, photographs, or detailed descriptions of the farmhouse complex to show how it looked during Jackson's residence or during the time it was an active slave quarters. The earliest description is from 1859 when Jackson biographer James Parton saw the complex on a visit to The Hermitage and described it as "negro cabins, 1 an old store house 'with nothing but plunder in it.'" Archeological excavations have revealed outdoor features as well as the remains of several other buildings. As part of the extensive research leading up to the restoration, scientists carried out dendrodating on both buildings. Samples of tree rings from the logs show when the logs were cut to construct the buildings. During the restoration, both buildings were completely dismantled and revealed details, such as construction techniques, craftsmens' initials, and trim reused for other purposes. Traditional accounts describe the log Jackson farmhouse as a two-story building. The joists supporting the floor of the present one-story building were finished with decorative beading, a treatment that would never have been used on hidden floor joints. These jointed supported the second floor of a two-story building and were decoratively finished because they were exposed on the ceiling of the original first floor. Analysis of microscopic samples found during the restoration project detail the paint, whitewash, and other finished used in the buildings. By analyzing how true ring patterns were affected by periods of drought or heavy rains and comparing them to samples of a known age, the date logs were cut can be determined. This dendrodating process confirms that the farmhouse was built before Jackson bought the Hermitage property.
26. HERMIT_070124_359.JPG: Root Cellars: Almost all slave dwellings at The Hermitage had small rectangular pits under the floorboards. Called root cellars, these pits functioned primarily as storage space for root crops such as potatoes and turnips. The underground pits were slightly cooler than the cabins and this helped preserve the food for months after the harvest. The pits also served as a secure space for personal possessions and items the slaves wanted to keep out of view. Because of this use, some researchers refer to root cellars are "hidey-holes." The variations in size and shape from cabin to cabin, and even within the same cabin, suggest the slaves built these features, possibly without Andrew Jackson's knowledge. This original brick-lined root cellar beneath the glass floor panel, is a representative sample.
27. HERMIT_070124_362.JPG: Hidey-hole
28. HERMIT_070124_368.JPG: The Farmhouse Kitchen (1806-1821): Soon after Andrew Jackson moved to The Hermitage log farmhouse, he built a two-room log building at the rear of the farmhouse to serve as a kitchen and quarters for several of his slaves. The kitchen was located in the north room, with its larger 6-foot wide fireplace. The south room and probably the attic space housed slaves. Old Hannah, the Hermitage cook, and her family lived here. Old Hannah had at least three children -- Betty, who later became cook, George, and Squire, who later had important jobs as Jackson's manservant and press foreman. Betty's son, Alfred, who lived at The Heritage longer than anyone else, was probably born here in the kitchen building about 1810. While the slaves, the Jackson family, and their many guests during this period lived and worked in close proximity, relationships could be tense. Rachel Jackson sometimes found managing the slaves during Jackson's many absences especially difficult. Like slaves at many other plantations, the slaves at The Hermitage could be disobedient and neglectful, and some even tried to run away. Rachel once wrote Jackson "theay vex me often and in my situation it is hurtful..." Jackson's slave Betty replaced her mother, Old Hannah, as cook in the last years the Jackson lived in the farmhouse. She traveled with the Jacksons to Florida during the time Jackson served as territorial governor.
29. HERMIT_070124_369.JPG: Slave Life: Little written documentation exists about slave life at The Hermitage. However, over thirty years of archeological work at the slaves' dwellings and worksites, as well as careful analysis of the written records, has provided much knowledge about the daily lives of the enslaved. Excavations in and around these cabins provided information about aspects of their lives as slaves, as Jackson's laborers, and as individuals and families, especially those aspects of their lives where they had some control and choice. Although archeology tells little about how the dwellings were furnished, the things the slaves left behind from their daily lives tell much about the way they lived. Bones from fish and domestic and wild animals as well as guns, knives, and fishing hooks suggest that the slaves hunted and fished for themselves in addition to eating the pork, cornmeal, and potatoes supplied by the Jacksons. The presence of coins and written records of payments to certain slaves show that they had money and therefore could buy and sell things for themselves. They accumulated numerous possessions and probably traded with slaves from other plantations. Jackson provided medical treatment by physicians and medicines for illnesses. The architectural and archaeological evidence suggests Jackson offered adequate food and shelter to his slaves. However, this same evidence reveals the fate of a people who were denied the basic freedoms our nation values.
30. HERMIT_070124_375.JPG: A Home for Jackson's Slaves (1821-1865): Andrew Jackson arrived at The Hermitage in 1804 with nine slaves. By 1821, that number had risen to 50. In 1823, Jackson brought another 30 enslaved African Americans here from his recently sold Alabama plantation. Faced with a pressing need for additional slave housing, he built several new cabins and converted his old log farmhouse into a one-story slave cabin. Over the next 30 years, Jackson's slave population continued to grow, peaking at 150. When Jackson retired from the Presidency in 1837, he returned home to face debts accumulated by his son. After Jackson died in 1845, Andrew Jackson Jr. encountered continued money woes that eventually forced him to sell off slaves and land. In 1856, he sold The Hermitage to the State of Tennessee and moved his family and all but a few of his slaves to a farm in Mississippi. Shortly before the Civil War, the Mississippi farm failed and the Jacksons returned to The Hermitage as tenants. After the war, the Jackson family stayed at The Hermitage while only a few former slaves remained as paid employees. In 1825, Andrew Jackson made this inventory of his slaves for a tax assessment. He listed the slaves by family with the total number in each family to the right. In all, Jackson owned 80 slaves.
31. HERMIT_070124_382.JPG: The Hermitage Landscape. 1804-1821: When Jackson lived in the log farmhouse, the surrounding plantation landscape buzzed with activity, sounds, and smells. The cramped housing for both whites and blacks forced them outdoors for work and relaxation. Here slaves cooked and stored food, did chores, and socialized. Archeological evidence shows that the slaves kept the work yard between the farmhouse and kitchen swept clean of grass and debris, an African cultural tradition brought to America. While Jackson lived in the log farmhouse, he planted 100 or more acres of cotton every year along with corn and other crops to feed his livestock, plus vegetable gardens for his family and slaves. As Jackson's finances improved, additional slave cabins and new agricultural buildings dotted the Hermitage landscape. In the first three years after moving to The Hermitage, Jackson built a 125-gallon corn whiskey distillery and a cotton gin and press that brought him extra income.
32. HERMIT_070124_384.JPG: A Struggling Planter in a Young Nation (1804-1812): Debt, bankruptcy, failure! All of these words likely entered Andrew Jackson's mind in 1804. Because of trade restrictions resulting from a war between Britain and France, the economy of the United States dried up. For Westerners like Jackson, the restrictions meant higher prices, less cash, and more debt, Jackson had gone into debt buying land that he hoped to sell later for profit, but because of the poor economy, people were afraid to buy. Jackson's debts forced him to sell his valuable riverfront farm and buy the largely undeveloped Hermitage. He used his profits to pay his debts and immediately began shaping The Hermitage into a productive cotton farm. In addition, Jackson and his business partners founded a general store, tavern, boatyard, and horse breeding and racing operations at nearby Clover Bottom in 1805. After two years, Clover Bottom proved unprofitable so Jackson sold his interests and focused his moneymaking efforts on agricultural production at The Hermitage. While Jackson struggled with debts, his political and social standing also fell. Jackson had enjoyed success as a politician, and served as Tennessee's Congressman, Senator, and Major General of the Tennessee Militia. In 1804, Jackson's friends suggested that President Jefferson make him governor of the Louisiana Territory, but Jefferson passed over his nomination. Two years later, Jackson unwittingly entangled himself in Aaron Burr's political intrigues. At the same time, Jackson's sense of honor led him to a series of disputes that included street fights and challenges to duels. He settled nearly all of these peacefully, except one. In May 1806, Jackson killed Charles Dickinson in a duel over a horse race, while he himself took a bullet in the chest but survived. For many in Tennessee, Jackson's star was falling and he had earned a reputation as hot tempered. Jackson spent his first years at The Hermitage retreating from public life, not only escaping debt but also rebuilding his name. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson purchased Louisiana from France, doubling the territory of the United States. Jackson saw Louisiana as a great opportunity for him to solve his money woes by becoming governor. In the summer of 1804, Jackson learned that Jefferson had picked another man. Out of choices and needing cash, he started selling property including his farm. Jackson and his business partners sold a wide variety of goods at the Clover Bottom store. They imported most merchandise from Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New Orleans providing customers with current fashions and products. Andrew Jackson knew Charles Dickerson was a better marksman, so he decided to allow Dickinson to shoot first and if he lived, he could take deliberate aim at him. Dickinson wounded Jackson in the chest, but he stayed on his feet and fatally shot his foe. The whole affair shocked Nashville as many thought the disagreement between the two men petty and both should have risen above it. Ultimately, it earned Jackson a reputation as a violent man. When he ran for president, his opponents used it against him in prints and broadsides. Aaron Burr served as Vice-President of the U.S. under Jefferson, but in 1804, he killed rival Alexander Hamilton in a duel. He tried to recoup his position by traveling west. His precise intentions were unclear but President Jefferson became convinced he was attempting to form a new country in Texas or the Louisiana Purchase. Andrew Jackson became involved with Burr by selling him boats and entertaining him at The Hermitage. Although acquitted after being arrested and tried for treason, Burr was disgraced and association with Burr did not help Jackson's reputation. Jackson found another means of making money by building a cotton gin and press and ginning his neighbors' cotton for a fee.
33. HERMIT_070124_390.JPG: Andrew Jackson and the War of 1812: As Jackson's honor suffered, so too did his country's. The war between France and Britain led to the seizure of American vessels and sailors to deny each other men and supplies, even though the U.S. was not involved in their conflict. In addition, Britain openly encouraged Indian tribes to rise up against the U.S. In 1810, frustrated Americans, especially Westerners and Southerners, sent a young nationalistic generation of leaders to Washington who supported economic development, territorial expansion, and respect for American rights. In 1812, these "War Hawks" forced President James Madison into war with Britain. Americans saw the War of 1812 as an opportunity for the United States to reassert its independence. For Andrew Jackson, it was a chance to win back respect. The U.S. has some early successes in the War of 1812, but failed to take Canada from Britain. In New England, the war so damaged commerce that in late 1814 the region threatened to secede. In the midst of the war with the British, a civil war broke out among the Creek Indians that spilled over to attacks on white settlers. In 1813, Andrew Jackson and his "Tennessee Volunteer" militia marched to Alabama to fight the Creeks. Despite shortages of men and supplies, Jackson defeated the Creeks in 1814 and the U.S. Army rewarded him with a commission as a Major General in the regular army. Soon after, the War Department assigned Jackson to defend New Orleans against an impending British invasion. Few in Washington believed Jackson could repulse the British; and if New Orleans fell, Britain would control the vital Mississippi River trade. Still, on January 8, 1815, Jackson and his army stunned the world as they crushed the British invasion and inflicted heavy casualties, while only suffering a few. Word of Jackson's victory touched off celebrations across a war-weary nation; and within days, news arrived from Europe that Britain and the United States had signed a treaty ending the War of 1812. However, without the stunning victory at New Orleans, Britain and the U.S. might not have ratified the treaty.
34. HERMIT_070124_391.JPG: A Hero in a Nation on the Move, 1815-1821: Jackson's victory and the news of peace filled the citizens of the United States with great confidence in the future of their nation. European capital and goods flooded into the U.S., while textile mills in Europe and New England clamored for more cotton. The demand for cotton pushed settlers west into the fertile lands of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. At the same time, General Jackson moved to secure that land for settlement by intimidating southern Indian tribes into treaties giving up vast tracks of land and forcing them to move onto smaller reservations. Jackson's readiness to seize Florida convinced Spain to sell it to the U.S.. By 1819, Andrew Jackson and American forces had largely extinguished Creek and Seminole resistance to American expansion. The American presence in Florida and the Gulf Coast discouraged the ambitions of Spain and Great Britain in Florida. In 1821, the U.S. rewarded Jackson with the post of Florida's first territorial governor, but after six months, he resigned and retired to The Hermitage. As Jackson's fame grew after the War of 1812, so too did his wealth. As one of two Major Generals in the U.S. Arm, Jackson had a good salary, but more importantly, the high price of cotton brought him increasing profits. From 1804 to 1823, Jackson's plantation grew from nine slaves and 425 acres to eighty slaves and more than 1,000 acres. The growth of slavery at The Hermitage was not unique; it was a story repeated over and over again in the South as the demand for cotton grew. In 1821, craftsmen finished a fine Federal-style brick home for Jackson and his family that better reflected his position than did the log farmhouse. Jackson built his newer slave quarters of brick also, possibly because as a national figure, Jackson felt compelled to make his plantation a model for others to follow. From 1804 to 1821, Andrew Jackson, his home, and his country had undergone dramatic change. Jackson, like so many Americans before and after him, got a second chance and he made the most of it.
35. HERMIT_070124_395.JPG: The Jackson Family: Rachel and Andrew Jackson never had any biological children, but the log farmhouse at The Hermitage always echoed with the sounds of children and family. Rachel's large family, the Donelsons, were frequent guests at The Hermitage. Rachel's family also provided her and Jackson with children beginning in 1804 when her brother Samuel died and his sons, John, Andrew, and Daniel, became Jackson's wards. In 1808, Rachel's brother Severn and his wife had twins and allowed the Jacksons to raise one as their adopted heir. The boy, named Andrew Jackson, Junior, spent his childhood here in the farmhouse. Over the next decade, many other wards and orphans lived with the Jackson's, but Lyncoya, a Creek Indian orphaned by the death of his mother at the hands of Jackson's own army, and Andrew Jackson Hutchings, son of Jackson's deceased business partner, John Hutchings, became closest to Andrew and Rachel. Rachel Jackson seemed pleased with her new life at The Hermitage. She had a comfortable house, she had children to care for, and her family and friends were nearby. However, the War of 1812 and Jackson's subsequent military career took him away, while she remained behind to run the plantation with the help of overseers, family, and Jackson's associates. As Jackson's success brought him increasingly under public scrutiny, Rachel became more reclusive to avoid gossip about the circumstances of her marriage to Jackson. All Rachel wanted was to live out her remaining years with Jackson and their family at The Hermitage. ... Much controversy surrounds the circumstances of their marriage. Rachel and Andrew always maintained publicly that they married in 1791, and married again in 1794 when they learned her divorce from her first husband, Lewis Robards, had not been finalized in 1791. No records exist of Rachel and Andrew's 1791 marriage.
36. HERMIT_070124_408.JPG: The Slave Interior: Today, the interior of the farmhouse has been restored as it looked when slaves lived here after the Jackson family moved to the brick house. In converting his former home to slave housing, Jackson had the building reduced to one floor and a sleeping loft by somehow removing the first floor and lowering the second floor and attic to the ground. ... A new brick chimney replaced the original stone chimney and wooden shutters replaced the glass windows. Although no evidence exists about precisely which slaves lived here, Jackson quartered his house slaves near the brick mansion and his field slaves to the north of this location. Therefore, it is likely his skilled slaves occupied Jackson's former farmhouse. Very little is known about how the slaves used the space or what kinds of things they had in it, but evidence of some adaptations remain. Jackson apparently had much f the original architectural details removed, while the slaves adapted the spaces to suit their needs and installed a wood-burning stove. Other changes to the cabins may have left no mark. The Hermitage Landscape (1804-1821): When Jackson lived in the log farmhouse, the surrounding plantation landscape buzzed with activity, sounds, and smells. The cramped housing for both whites and blacks forced them outdoors for work and relaxation. Here slaves cooked and stored food, did chores, and socialized. Archeological evidence shows that the slaves kept the work yard between the farmhouse and kitchen swept clean of grass and debris, an African cultural tradition brought to America. While Jackson lived in the log farmhouse, he planted 100 or more acres of cotton every year along with corn and other crops to feed his livestock, plus vegetable gardens for his family and slaves. As Jackson's finances improved, additional slave cabins and new agricultural buildings dotted the Hermitage landscape. In the first three years after moving to The Hermitage, Jackson built a 125-gallon corn whiskey distillery and a cotton gin and press that brought him extra income. "I wish you to say to my overseer, that I am on my return, and will expect that my houses will be prepared in such a way as will prevent the northern blast from entering. Say further to him, to have as much hemp broke as will make a sufficient quantity of Bailing to Bale my cotton and set the wenches to spin it. I shall want my Cotton for market for my arrival, say to the overseer to have the ginn started." -- Andrew Jackson on Hermitage operations, December 31, 1815.
37. HERMIT_070124_422.JPG: A Future President's Home (1804-1821): Born into a poor immigrant family and orphaned at age 14, Andrew Jackson, through persistence, ambition and luck would become a respected lawyer, judge, businessman, politician, military officer, and farmer. Jackson had been in Tennessee enjoying success since 1788, when in the early 1800s, he fell on hard times. He sold his fine riverfront farm, Hunter's Mill, in 1804 to pay debts and then bought this neighboring farm that he called "The Hermitage," a name that reflected Jackson's desire to retreat from public life. While much of the land on this new farm was undeveloped, the farm did include a comfortable but not luxurious, two-story log farmhouse built between 1798 and 1800. By 1806, hired hands had built a two-room log kitchen and quarter for some of Jackson's nine slaves just a few yards away from Jackson's home. Andrew Jackson, his wife Rachel, and their adopted son, Andrew Junior, and many wards, relatives and other adopted members of the Jackson family lived here until 1821, when they moved into the new brick mansion.
38. HERMIT_070124_427.JPG: A Symbol of Democracy and Slavery: These log buildings tell a remarkable story unlike any others in the United States. From 1804 to 1821, as a two-story farmhouse and kitchen outbuilding, they housed future U.S. President Andrew Jackson and his family. Here Andrew Jackson lived out and became a symbol of the American Dream -- the idea that anyone can rise to great success. After Jackson moved to the brick mansion in 1821, he reconfigured his old log farmhouse into a one-story slave cabin. Until the Civil War, these buildings sheltered some of Jackson's slaves, a group of people for whom freedom remained a dream deferred. Today, these unassuming buildings stand as a symbolic reminder of the conflict between democracy and slavery that continues to haunt our understanding of American life and culture. As you explore them, you will learn about Andrew Jackson's life in these buildings, and you will also uncover the story of the many enslaved African Americans who lived and toiled here.
39. HERMIT_070124_437.JPG: Cabin-by-the-Spring
40. HERMIT_070124_441.JPG: Cabin-by-the-Spring: In 1940, The Ladies' Hermitage Association constructed this building to be used for meetings and receptions. Today, the cabin still serves as a meeting place and classroom, and is also rented for private functions.
41. HERMIT_070124_455.JPG: Springhouse: The stone building at the base of the steps below is the springhouse built by the Jackson family in the early nineteenth century. The spring was an important feature of the property, serving as a year-round source of fresh water and, with its covering structure, as a way to cool dairy and other food products. The spring remains very productive, and still supplies the water used in irrigating the Hermitage garden.
42. HERMIT_070124_456.JPG: Springhouse
43. HERMIT_070124_465.JPG: The Hunter's Hill Farm Building
44. HERMIT_070124_471.JPG: The Hunter's Hill Farm Building: This log building was not part of Andrew Jackson's Hermitage. In 1929, a fire destroyed one of Jackson's original barns. To help replace it, The Ladies' Hermitage Association purchased and moved this log building from the nearby Hunter's Hill property. Little is known about the history of this building, but construction techniques and material suggest that it was originally built between 1820 and 1850.
45. HERMIT_070124_476.JPG: Very fancy rain gutter
46. HERMIT_070124_488.JPG: Notice the false-front of the house
47. HERMIT_070124_499.JPG: General and Mrs. Jackson's Tomb.
48. HERMIT_070124_538.JPG: General and Mrs. Jackson's Tomb: Because of Rachel's love for this garden, Jackson chose to bury her here after her death in December, 1828. In 1831 Andrew Jackson employed architect David Morison, who was then remodeling the Hermitage, to design and build a tomb for Rachel and himself. Morison completed the tomb in 1832. Visiting Rachel's grave each evening was one of Jackson's daily rituals in his retirement years. After his death in June 1845, his family laid him to rest next to his beloved wife. Every year on his birthday and the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans. The Ladies' Hermitage Association places wreaths on both his and Rachel's graves. The tomb has been a favorite spot for man visitors to pose for photographs, including: President Theodore Roosevelt, General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, and President Ronald Reagan.
49. HERMIT_070124_557.JPG: "Uncle Alfred, died Sept. 4, 1901, aged 98 years. Faithful servant of Andrew Jackson."
50. HERMIT_070124_579.JPG: The Garden Privy
51. HERMIT_070124_583.JPG: The Garden Privy: This small brick 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 garden embellishment than something necessary to everyday life. The structure you see now was probably built or renovated in the 1890s as a restroom for Hermitage visitors.
52. HERMIT_070124_649.JPG: The Hermitage Church: In 1823, General Andrew Jackson led the effort to build a new church for the surrounding community. Rachel Jackson, a devout Christian, undoubtedly influenced his decision. He donated two acres of Hermitage land for the church and he also made a large cash contribution. In 1824, the nine charter members of the congregation named their new church Ephesus Church. The Ephesus Church members did not follow any denomination until 1832, when they joined the Nashville Presbytery. Rachel was an original church member, but Jackson was not. He believed that some people would think he joined the church for political reasons. However, Jackson promised Rachel that he would join the church when his political career ended. After serving two terms as president, he fulfilled his vow on July 15, 1838, when he became a member of the Epheseus Church. In 1839, Jackson and his neighbors undertook a modest remodeling of the church. That same year, the congregation changed the name of the church to the Hermitage Church in honor of Jackson. The Hermitage Church continued as a place of worship until 1965, when a fire gutted the building. Soon after The Ladies' Hermitage Association donated five acres on the boundary of their property where the congregation built a new church. In return, the congregation gave the ruins of the old Church to the LHA. The LHA spent nearly four years restoring the church to its 1839 appearance and in May 1969 they official rededicated the church.
53. HERMIT_070124_657.JPG: The Hermitage Church
54. HERMIT_070124_662.JPG: The Donelson Family Cemetery
55. HERMIT_070124_663.JPG: The Donelson Family Cemetery: In November of 1948, the Rachel Stockley Donelson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution relocated here in the Hermitage churchyard. Originally, the cemetery was on land that once belonged to Captain John Donelson. Among the people buried here are: Emily Tennessee Donelson, wife of Andrew Jackson Donelson and White House hostess during Andrew Jackson's Presidency; Captain John Donelson and wife Mary Purnell Donelson, Rachel Jackson's brother and sister-in-law; Severn Donelson and wife Elizabeth, biological parents of Andrew Jackson Jr., and Lewis Randolph, great grandson of Thomas Jefferson and the son of Lewis Meriweather Randolph and Elizabeth Martin Randolph.
56. HERMIT_070124_667.JPG: The Tennessee Confederate Soldiers' Home and Cemetery
57. HERMIT_070124_668.JPG: The Tennessee Confederate Soldiers' Home and Cemetery: In 1856, the State of Tennessee purchased 500 acres of Andrew Jackson's Hermitage property. The state allowed the Jackson family to remain on the property until Sarah Jackson died in 1887. Two years later, the state chartered The Ladies' Hermitage Association and gave the organization the Hermitage mansion. Jackson's tomb, and the twenty-five acres surrounding the mansion. The Tennessee Confederate Soldiers' Home received the remaining 475 acres. The Soldiers' Home Trustees used most of land for an extensive farming operation that provided the home with food and income. An early plan to house each veteran in a separate cottage proved too costly. The Soldiers' Home Trustees then decided to build a single large, dormitory style building for all the veterans. From 1892 to 1933, the Tennessee Confederate Soldiers' Home provided shelter, comfort, and medical attention to over 700 Confederate veterans. This cemetery, which is laid out in a series of circles, holds the remains of 487 men who died in the home. The pathways through the cemetery represent a Saint Andrews Cross, the cross on the Confederate battle flag. In 1911, the State of Tennessee donated the granite monument that rests in the center of the cemetery. The state also provided the granite memorial posts that support the gate on Lebanon Road. The United Daughters of the Confederacy dedicated the posts on Confederate Memorial Day in 1941.
58. HERMIT_070124_688.JPG: The Confederate marker says: This crude, unhewn piece of everlasting granite, is here to mark the resting place of manly men. Men like it, firm, solid, true men who, in support of principle, uncomplainingly endured hunger, cold and privation which history cannot record. The sturdy men grouped about this rugged stone died in The Tennessee Home for Confederate Soldiers. This stone will stand the test of time. The souls of the tried men grouped about it will endure throughout eternity.
59. HERMIT_070124_706.JPG: The Tulip Grove
60. HERMIT_070124_711.JPG: Tulip Grove: Tulip Grove Mansion was the home of Andrew Jackson Donelson, Rachel Jackson's nephew. After Donelson's father died, Andrew Jackson served as his guardian and took and interest in his education. Jackson secured Donelson an appointment to West Point and later sent him to Transylvania University Law School in Lexington, Kentucky. He married his first cousin, Emily Tennessee Donelson, in 1824, and five years later the young couple accompanied Andrew Jackson to Washington. Andrew and Emily Donelson lived in the White House with Jackson, and she served as Jackson's official hostess, while Andrew served as the President's private secretary. Tulip Grove was built while the Donelsons were in Washington. Their new home was completed in 1836, and Emily returned to Tennessee that summer to set up her household. Tragedy struck in December 1836, when Emily died of tuberculosis leaving behind her husband and four young children. In 1841, Donelson married Elizabeth Martin Randolph, his second cousin, with whom he had eight children. In the 1840s and 1850s, Donelson's political career flourished, but after a failed attempt at the vice presidency, along with presidential candidate Millard Fillmore, Donelson retired from public life. In 1858, Donelson sold Tulip Grove and moved to Memphis where he died in 1870 at the age of 71. Tulip Grove remained a private residence until 1964, when the Ladies' Hermitage Association acquired it. When Tulip Grove was built, it was one of Tennessee's finest Greek Revival homes and it still is today. The Doric columns, pediment, and cornice were hand made and are original to the house. Most of the design details for Tulip Grove came from Asher Benjamin's 1827 book the American Builder's Companion. The only significant change to the front of Tulip Grove was the addition of the Victorian Era fishscale shingles in the tympanum of the pediment.
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Wikipedia Description: The Hermitage (Tennessee)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Hermitage is a historical plantation and museum located in Davidson County, Tennessee, USA, 12 miles (19 km) east of downtown Nashville. The plantation was owned by Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States, from 1804 until his death at The Hermitage in 1845. Jackson only lived at the property occasionally until he retired from public life in 1837.

History:

The Hermitage is not only the name of Jackson's home but of the surrounding farm. The land, which was ideally located two miles (3 km) from the Cumberland and Stone’s rivers, was originally settled by a Nathaniel Hays in 1780. Hays sold the 640-acre (2.6 km�) farm to Jackson in 1804. Jackson and his wife Rachel moved into a two-story log cabin on the farm (the two-story building was eventually split into two one-story buildings used as slave quarters after Jackson built the main house). Initially Jackson operated the cotton farm with nine African slaves, but this number gradually grew to 44 slaves by 1820 as the farm expanded to 1,000 acres (4.0 km�).

The original Hermitage mansion was a two-story 8-room Federal style brick building built between 1819 and 1821. 1828 was the height and depth of Jackson's life. In November, he was elected 7th President of the United States, however, his wife Rachel died the following month. In 1831, while Jackson was away in the White House, he had the mansion remodeled with flanking one-story wings (one with a library and the other with a large dining room and pantry), a two-story entrance portico with Doric columns and a small rear portico. Jackson also had a Grecian “temple & monument” for Rachel Jackson's grave constructed in the garden. Craftsmen completed the domed limestone tomb with a copper roof in 1832. In 1834 a chimney fire seriously damaged much of the building. This prompted Jackson to have the current Greek Revival structure built which was completed two years later. The ...More...
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2007 photos: Equipment this year: I used the Fuji S9000 almost exclusively except for the period when it broke and I had to send it back for repairs. In August, I bought a Canon Rebel Xti, my first digital SLR (vs regular digital) which I tried as well but I wasn't that excited by it. Trips this year: Two weeks down south (including Graceland, Shiloh, VIcksburg, and New Orleans), a week at a time share in Costa Rica over my 50th birthday, a week off for a family reunion in the Wisconsin Dells (with sidetrips to Dayton, Springfield, and Madison), a week in San Diego for the Comic-Con with a side trip to Michigan for two family reunions, a drive up to Niagara Falls, a couple of weekend jaunts including the Civil War Preservation Trust Grand Review in Vicksburg, and a December journey to three state capitols (Richmond, Raleigh, and Columbia). I saw sites in 18 states and 3 other countries this year -- the first year I'd been to more than two other countries since we lived in Venezuela when I was a little toddler. Ego strokes: A photo that I took at the National Archives was used as the author photo on the book jacket for David A. Nichols' "A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution." I became a volunteer photographer at both Sixth and I Historic Synagogue and the Civil War Preservation Trust (later renamed "Civil War Trust").. Number of photos taken this year: 225,000.
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