“You enter a large and spacious hall or vestibule, the walls covered with a very splendid French paper—beautiful scenery, figures, etc.—the floor an oil cloth. … To the right are two large, handsome rooms furnished in fashionable and genteel style, … [and] to the left is the dining room and chamber. There was no splendor to dazzle the eye but everything elegant and neat,” described Juliana Connor after her visit to The Hermitage in 1828.
The first tour guide at Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage was his personal servant, Alfred Jackson. In fact, it was Alfred’s purchase of many of the seventh president’s personal possessions that preserved a lot of the items shown in the house today. When the Ladies’ Hermitage Association was founded in 1889, modeled after the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association that had formerly saved Washington’s home, Alfred sold his collection of Jackson furnishings to the ladies. It is recorded that he stayed on at the estate, giving tours. Alfred eventually made one simple request: He wanted to be buried next to Andrew Jackson.
This is how it came to be that next to the stately tomb of Andrew and Rachel Jackson, in the Hermitage gardens, is a simple stone for Alfred. Alfred lived most of his life as a slave and then a tenant farmer at The Hermitage, in a simple log cabin. He was the personal assistant of the colorful and controversial man who would command forces at the Battle of New Orleans and go on to become president of the United States.
Laying the Foundation
At the young age of 13, Andrew Jackson fought in the American Revolution. Both his brothers died during the war: one from heat stroke following a battle and the other from smallpox while in British captivity. While aiding the war efforts, his mother Elizabeth ended up contracting cholera and died, leaving Jackson an orphan at 14. He worked as a saddle maker, taught school, and eventually read law. In September 1787, he was admitted to the North Carolina bar. He moved to the frontier town of Nashville to take a prosecutor position in what was then the Western District of North Carolina—which would become the state of Tennessee.In 1804, Andrew Jackson bought 425 acres of land 12 miles east of Nashville and named it The Hermitage. He moved there with his wife Rachel, and the couple originally lived in a log cabin, not unlike that of Alfred’s. In 1819, as Jackson’s fame in the War of 1812 propelled both his business and political aspirations, he began building a more impressive home on the property.
Rachel chose a site on a rise in a secluded meadow, and the house was built in the Federal style. It had a great center hall and staircase. There were four rooms on the first floor: two parlors, a dining room, and the master bedroom. The upper level featured four bedrooms, two on each side of the center hall.
There was a basement kitchen, and the house had nine fireplaces. It was built by local craftsmen/master builders in a style that was common at the time. Jackson added a simple portico. The initial house was completed in 1821. He would live there with Rachel until her tragic death in 1828, right after the contentious campaign in which her husband was elected president.
Expanding His Horizons
Andrew Jackson would go to the White House as a widower, and he consoled himself in his grief by planning the expansion of The Hermitage, directing much of the construction from Washington.Initially, he built a small frame house over her grave, but in 1831 he engaged the services of architect David Morrison to enlarge the house and build a fitting tomb for both him and Rachel. Taking inspiration from a round temple depicted in the house’s Parisian wallpaper, Morrison created a beautiful temple with Doric columns and a domed roof over the two crypts.
The temple is quite similar in feeling to the classical temple James Madison had erected at Montpelier in Virginia. Just beside the tomb is Alfred Jackson’s simple stone, the fulfillment of his request to be buried next to Andrew.
Morrison recast the house itself in the popular Greek Revival style as he enlarged the house to 13 rooms. In December 1831 he wrote to Jackson:
“I have the satisfaction to inform you that the additions and improvements to The Hermitage are completed. … The Hermitage as improved presents a front of 104 feet, the wings project 9 feet in front of the center building and are connected by a colonnade of the same breadth. The colonnade consists of 10 lofty columns of the Doric Order. The entablature is carried through the whole line of the front, and wreaths of laurel leaves in the frieze. … The upper story consists of a Portico surmounted by a pediment which breaks the monotony of the composition in a very satisfactory manner. … The old kitchen is removed. … The wing at the East end contains the library, a large and commodious room, and overseer room, and a covered way that protects the three doors leading to the library, overseer room and to the back parlor.”
Rising From the Ashes
In 1834, the house was severely damaged in a fire. Restoration was overseen by architects Joseph Reiff and William C. Hume. Relying on the pattern books of New England architect Asher Benjamin, the designers transformed the facade of The Hermitage into a Greek temple with six modified Corinthian columns lining the front porch and the upper story balcony. A tan sand-coating was given to the house and columns to simulate stone. New French wallpaper was ordered to replace the former paper destroyed by the fire.The colorful, controversial, and popular Andrew Jackson retired to The Hermitage after his presidency ended. He lived there until his death on June 8, 1845. The story is told that his pet parrot was even in attendance at his funeral, but the bird had to be removed because it would not stop swearing. The house was eventually acquired by the state of Tennessee, which transferred it to the Ladies’ Hermitage Association, which continues to manage the home today.
