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Any time you are traveling in or around Nashville, TN, a visit to Andrew Jackson’s home, The Hermitage, is well worth it. His home is a great window into Jackson’s tumultuous life and presidency. The house tour is one of the best we’ve experienced. Our tour guides were in period clothing and were excellent storytellers. The house is filled with original family artifacts, giving a real idea of what day to day life was like for the wealthy in the 1830’s. The French landscape wallpaper in the curved center atrium was hand painted in dark shades of blue indigo dating to the period.
Our guides left us with thoughts about the many amazing facts about Andrew Jackson’s life that we had not known before like:
- At age 13, Jackson was a runner during the Revolutionary War, taking orders to the front lines
- His father died before he was born, then one of his brothers died in the Revolutionary War and then the other died of smallpox. Later his mother died of a fever while nursing American soldiers being held by the British, making the teenage Jackson the only immediate surviving member of his family
- He became a war hero by defeating the British troops at New Orleans in 1815
- He married the love of his life, Rachel, before she was legally divorced from her first husband, which led to one of the dirtiest presidential campaigns of all time
- Rachel died the year before he became president
- He played a pivotal role in the Financial Panic of 1837 by refusing to put U.S. assets in the U.S. National Bank
- He oversaw the shameful removal of Cherokee Indians to western reservations, known as the “Trail of Tears”
- He planted cotton and was a slave-owner
- In 1832, he maintained the union by toasting Thomas Jefferson, stating, “Our Union, it must be preserved!”
The grounds include renovated cabins and outbuildings and a 1.5-mile walking trail, picnic tables, and the Garden Gate Café. They happily accommodate those with disabilities and offer various tour-guided or self-led audio tours of the area.
What Famous House have you visited? What was your favorite? Why?
Related Links
The Hermitage Website – www.thehermitage.com
The Hermitage Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/7thpresident?fref=ts
Nashville Travel Site - http://www.nashville.com
June 28, 2023
