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The Hermitage, the home of
President Andrew Jackson, is one of the largest and most
visited presidential homes in the United States; it is
located 12 miles east of downtown Nashville, Tennessee.
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The Hermitage, Front View
Image:
Photographer: W. T. Washington. Library
of Congress HABS TENN,19-NASH.V,1-1 |
From 1804 until his death in
1845, Andrew Jackson resided at The Hermitage. He lived in
the log farmhouse from 1804 to1821 and the brick mansion
from 1821 to 1845. At the time of his death, 161
African-American slaves operated the cotton plantation and
resided in dozens of slave cabins scattered about the
1,050-acre plantation.
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The Hermitage, Front View
Image: Library
of Congress
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The Hermitage, Rear View
Image: Library
of Congress
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The State of Tennessee
purchased the property from the Jackson family in 1856. In
1889, Tennessee chartered the Ladies’ Hermitage Association
(LHA), an organization modeled directly on the Mount Vernon
Ladies’ Association of the Union (who had purchased and
opened George Washington’s Mount Vernon as a museum in 1860)
to care for the property as a historic museum. By the 1920s,
the LHA had successfully purchased most of the mansion
furnishings from the Jackson family, making The Hermitage a
national model for authenticity, conservation, and
preservation. Today, the LHA manages 1,120 acres, which
includes the entire 1,050-acre tract that Andrew Jackson
owned when he died in 1845.
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The Hermitage, Rear View
Image:
Photographer: W. T. Washington. Library
of Congress HABS TENN,19-NASH.V,1-2 |
Proceeding up a long avenue
flanked with pine trees, the house is reached. It is of the
type so familiar as the residence of the well-to-do during
the days of the Colonial period up to just before the Civil
War. In these houses the owners of broad acres lived a life
of dignified ease and luxury surrounded by large families,
supplemented by numbers of guests. Surrounding the house
were grouped the slaves quarters and other dependent
buildings, while at one side was a beautiful old-fashioned
garden, full of carefully tended plants and shrubs.
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Entrance hall with cantilevered elliptical
center staircase.
Image: Library
of Congress HABS TENN,19-NASH.V,1-55 |
The wide central hall its
cantilevered elliptical center staircase is flanked on both
sides with rooms and still boasts its original chandelier.
Here you also find the Rachel Jackson’s original scenic
wallpaper mural depicting themes from Greek mythology that
has been preserved for nearly two centuries.
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Detail drawing of cantilevered elliptical center
staircase with mural.
Image: Library
of Congress. |
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Detail of wall paintings on west wall of
entrance hall
between front wall and door to front parlor.
Image:
Photographer: w. Jeter Eason. Library
of Congress HABS TENN,19-NASH.V,1-10
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The first floor has two
parlors, a dining room, and Andrew and Rachel Jackson’s
bedroom. The parlors are decorated with the original
beautiful mahogany furniture (including the piano bought by
President Jackson for his granddaughter) and two portraits
of Jackson on the walls. One portrait was painted by artist
George Healy about a week prior to Jackson’s death in 1845.
The windows are draped with reproductions of the original
red fabric curtains, while the table holds Rachel's glasses
beside a book of poems given to her by Jackson. The Italian
marble mantle in the front parlor is also original.
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Double parlor, looking northwest.
Image: Library
of Congress HABS TENN,19-NASH.V,1-60
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Dining room, looking northeast.
Image: Library
of Congress HABS TENN,19-NASH.V,1-57
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Library, looking southeast.
Image: Library
of Congress HABS TENN,19-NASH.V,1-61
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The windows are draped with
reproductions of the original red fabric curtains, while the
table holds Rachel's glasses beside a book of poems given to
her by Jackson. The Italian marble mantle in the front
parlor is also original. The various bedrooms in the upper
story each have their four-poster bed while the broad
porches afford a pleasant shelter from the heat of the
southern sun. All preserve the atmosphere of the day when
Jackson sought this dignified retreat to rest from an
arduous life.
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Andrew Jackson bedroom
on second floor.
Image: Library
of Congress HABS TENN,19-NASH.V,1-62
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Since The Hermitage opened as a
museum in 1889 over 15 million people have crossed its
threshold. The Hermitage includes 1120 acres, thirty-two
historic buildings, dozens of archaeological sites, two
springs, a formal garden, a vegetable garden, and a cotton
patch. It is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. from
April 1 - October 15, and 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p. m. from
October 16 - March 31.
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