Andrew Jackson's Hermitage

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Andrew Jackson's Hermitage
A home for Old Hickory.

By Milton Bagby


	The Hermitage is the one of the country's most-visited presidential residences.

The Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson's Tennessee home, is a magnificent, two-story plantation house. Each year more than a quarter million people visit the imposing Greek Revival structure, making it the most-visited presidential residence in the country after the White House, Mount Vernon and Monticello. But people seeking insight into Jackson's character should check out the two log cabins at the back of the property.

Jackson, a penniless South Carolina orphan who became a national hero, lived 17 years in those cabins with his wife, Rachel. Jackson didn't commission the mansion until 1819, when he was 52 and had long since become the legendary "Old Hickory." What visitors see at the Hermitage is a man—and a nation—in the process of inventing themselves.

In 1804, when Jackson bought the first 425 acres of what would become the Hermitage, middle Tennessee was still rugged frontier. Nashville's population numbered barely over a thousand when Jackson arrived in 1788, a freshly minted 21-year-old lawyer licensed to practice in the North Carolina territories west of the Appalachians. Quick tempered and always ready to back his actions with fists or pistols, Jackson attracted controversy. During the 1828 presidential campaign his marriage became an embarrassing scandal when it was revealed that he had married Rachel Donelson Robards before her divorce was technically final (a fact unknown to both of them). After the divorce was officially finalized, Rachel and Jackson married a second time. In 1806, he killed a man in a duel over the results of a horse race and was ostracized by the community.

In 1804, when Jackson bought the first 425 acres of what would become the Hermitage, middle Tennessee was still rugged frontier.

Nonetheless, Jackson forged ahead. On the frontier, land meant power, and Jackson attempted to make money through land speculation, with mixed results. Plunging into political life, he became a member of Tennessee's Constitutional Convention, was elected its first U.S. congressman and later U.S. senator and was for six years a Tennessee Superior Court judge. At the Hermitage, Jackson worked hard at farming. Using slave labor, he raised cotton as his primary crop. Slave quarters and farm outbuildings such as the smokehouse, springhouse and kitchen are part of the self-guided tour of the grounds.

His growing wealth allowed Jackson to pursue his interests in horseracing and stock his cellar with fine wines. Proud of his table, Jackson was a legendary host. As for horses, he was an enthusiastic breeder who derived some income and considerable pleasure from horse trading, stud fees and racing.

From 1804 on, he mixed farming and politics with a flair for the military. His combative nature and fiery temperament helped him become the leader of Tennessee's militia, with an elected rank of major general. His tough reputation and ramrod sense of discipline earned him the nickname of "Old Hickory." During the War of 1812 Jackson gained national recognition as the nation's foremost Indian fighter and the Hero of New Orleans. He continued to serve in the army—all the while managing affairs at the Hermitage—until appointed the first governor of the Florida Territory in 1821. Restless in this peacetime position, Jackson resigned within a few months and returned home.

By 1819, Jackson and Rachel had made about as many improvements to the old cabins as possible, including clapboarding the exterior and plastering and papering some interior walls. His fame now widespread and his fortune steadily growing, Jackson decided to build a mansion. By 1821, the first version of the magnificent home that stands today was completed.

The mansion visitors see now is the third version. The original Federal treatment gave way to a Palladian facade in 1831. Following an upstairs fire three years later, Jackson had the house remodeled in the Greek Revival style. The six massive Corinthian columns along the front of the house are made of wood, but a coating of sand mixed with paint gives the effect of stone. Inside, visitors find original artifacts from Jackson's time, 85 percent of which actually belonged to him. The furnishings—huge horsehair-stuffed mahogany sofas, exquisite table settings, the hand-blocked wallpaper in the high-ceilinged grand hall and numerous portraits of family members—all reflect Jackson's rise in fortune. "They lived well," says Marsha Mullin, the curator of collections at the Hermitage. "Even when they lived in the cabins, they had fine china and linens and silverware."

Still, the house contains the occasional quirky or unique piece. The dining room features the intricate Eighth of January mantel. According to legend, a veteran of the War of 1812 carved it from hickory, working on it only one day each year—the anniversary of Jackson's victory at New Orleans. It took him 24 years to complete, and he gave it to the Jacksons as a gift in 1839. Jackson's office contains a recliner, then called an invalid chair, used by an ailing Jackson in his final days. It was a gift from the Mechanics' Union of Nashville.

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