The Hermitage

The first Hermitage

We left Smoky Mountain National Park this morning and traveled a few more interesting roads until finally reaching some normal highways. We stopped outside Nashville to visit President Andrew Jackson’sHermitage. He bought this land in 1804 and built his first cabin here. He held onto this land, even though he had to sell his more valuable land on the river to pay off his debts. This became a large cotton plantation with its share of slaves.

Andrew Jackson’s life is quite intriguing. He made his fame defeating the British in New Orleans during the War of 1812. He ran for President in 1824, one of four candidates. No one won the Electoral College, so the House of Representatives chose John Quincy Adams. He ran again in 1832, running one of the first Presidential Campaigns, because electors in most states were now chosen by elections, rather than by the state assemblies. Jackson was one of the founders of the Democratic Party. He won in a landslide. He remained quite popular when he vetoed the charter extension for the Second Bank of the United States, which he felt only helped the already rich, not the common man. He was also popular for removing the Indians from the East to west of the Mississippi. This was also known as the Trail of Tears as over 2000 Indians died on the trip. In 1837, Jackson retired back to the Hermitage. The mansion itself was built in 3 stages: 1821 the initial building, 1831 the first expansion, and 1834 repairs after a fire (including putting the kitchen in a separate building). The preservation of this mansion was amazing. Most of the rooms were still decorated with the original French wallpaper (with a scene from Greek Mythology). Most of the furnishings were also original. Over 700 books from Andrew’s library were stocked on the shelves. (It was well preserved because his son, went bankrupt, and ended up selling the estate to the state to turn into a museum. Jackson died in his own bed in 1845.

Hermitage 1837 (backside)