Existing comment:
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. |