Andrew Jackson's Hermitage (2/18/2022)

Friday, February 18, 2022
After a visit to 98-year old Mary J (cousin to Kent's mother), we visited the third most visited presidential residence in the country: Andrew Jackson's Hermitage. Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States and the first born west of the Allegheny Mountains and the first non-aristocrat. The Hermitage has been open to the public since 1889.

The Hermitage (1818-1819, 2nd floor added 1831, after a fire
in 1834 it was rebuilt by 1835, restored to 1837 appearance)

Taxodium distichum/Bald Cypress allée

The garden (c 1819, by William Frost) with
Lagerstroemia sp/Crape Myrtle trees

In a corner of the garden is the family cemetery

The Tomb (1831, by David Morrison)

Andrew Jackson lies on the left and his wife, Rachel, on the right

Uncle Alfred's grave marker

This may have been a privy for Hermitage tourists in the 1890s

Alfred's Cabin is where the enslaved Alfred lived until his
death in 1901; Alfred was born and raised at Hermitage
and was the wagoner in charge of the vehicles and horses

Alfred Jackson would witness the growth of the Hermitage into a busy cotton plantation and its decline after the Civil War. After the war, he contnued working for the Jacksons, and rented 24 acres to grow food crops and some cotton to sell. When the Ladies’ Hermitage Association took over the Hermitage in 1889, Alfred worked for them as caretaker and a guide for visitors. In return for his services, Alfred was promised that he would be buried in the garden (see Uncle Alfred's grave marker above).

Inside Uncle Alfred's Cabin, which was a duplex

This first Hermitage farmhouse (1798-1800) was originally
where Andrew Jackson lived when he purchased the property
in 1804; he hired craftsmen to paint the interior trim and
put up French wallpaper; after the Jacksons moved to the
mansion in 1821, this cabin was reduced to one floor
and the walls were whitewashed

This duplex was the first Hermitage kitchen, and later,
along with the "first Hermitage" was converted into a
quarters for the enslaved persons

First Hermitage kitchen interior

A  well outside the rear of the Hermitage mansion

The smokehouse (c 1831)

Inside the smokehouse, where a large amount of pork was stored

Kent opens the weighted self-closing gate

The springhouse (1821) where the extended roof covered
the location of the spring to keep leaves out

Lunch was at another Diners, Drive-ins & Dives spot:
Arnold's in Nashville, TN

Arnold's had a cafeteria-style line and communal seating

Chess pie, meatloaf and green beans

Spicy chocolate pie, fried green tomatoes, green beans,
and fried catfish

Okay, Erich: Is this a famous baseball player?

Stix (2015, by Christian Moeller) includes 27 red cedar poles,
each of which required a 15-foot deep hole drilled into limestone

Next: Frist Museum of Art.