Andrew Jackson's Hermitage

I recently accompanied my wife and a group of students to Tennessee.   One of the highlights was visiting The Hermitage in Nashville.  The mansion was built by Andrew Jackson in 1819 on 425 acres of land. Jackson was a General in the army and the seventh president of the United States.

The original ground floor contained 2 Parlors, a Dining Room and the Master Bedroom.  The second floor has four large bedrooms around a large central hall.  The house has nine fireplaces and is decorated with the original period French wallpaper and contains original furniture and family possessions.

In 1831, the mansion underwent renovations.  These renovations included adding a wing on each side and two story front and rear porticos.

The new wings added a large dining room and pantry to one side and an office and Jackson's library to the other side.  A new kitchen and smoke house were also added behind the main structure.

A devastating fire heavily damaged the mansion in 1834 and the house was re-built to how it stands today including the six two-story greek columns.  These renovations also changed the existing straight staircase with the more elegant curved one.  Renovations and new furniture from Philadelphia was completed in 1837.

These floor plans are from the Hermitage website.  The walls indicated in red show the original structure prior to 1834 renovations.

Our tour began with guides in period costume sharing some history of the estate.

This is the window into Jackson's Library.  The entire front facade including the wood columns, were painted tan and sand was added to the mix to give the look of stone.

The front door is faux painted to look like a more expensive wood.

I don't know what I liked better about the entry, the curved staircase or the wallpaper?

Here is a view of the parlor/music room

This is President Jackson's first floor bedroom

President Jackson's Library is located adjacent to his bedroom.  Notice the chair at his desk - I have the miniature version.

 You can see my "Willits Take-A-Seat Collection"  by clicking  HERE

Directly across from the Library is the office.  This photo gives a great view of the original poplar floors.

 Other first floor rooms include the dining room (above) and the pantry (below)

The kitchen is located in a separate building behind the house

The tour continued upstairs.  The metal rail was added to protect the original wood one.

There is a large hall upstairs with great wallpaper that was selected by Jackson's wife and illustrates the story of Telemachus adapted from Greek literature.

The tour guide stated that upstairs hall contained large linen closets because guests would sleep in this hall if the bedrooms were full.  The wooden baseboards were faux painted to look like marble.

One of the upstairs guest bedrooms

 The plantation style home had more than 160 slaves at one point.  This is one of the slave quarters on the grounds and the picture below shows the interior.

The grounds also contained a one acre English style garden

President Jackson and his wife Rachel are laid to rest in this tomb just off the garden and as part of the family cemetery.

Here is a view of the rear porch.

The side doors to the English garden are also faux painted.

The visitors center had a great miniature model of a cabin

 We were told that they will soon be replacing Jackson's image on the twenty dollar bill with a female - Susan B Anthony, however, my vote is for this lady!