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History of the Hermitage Farm

A Thriving Farm, 1804-1845
To Andrew Jackson The Hermitage meant more than just the mansion; it meant his entire farm. It also meant refuge from the trials and frustrations of public life. But before Jackson purchased The Hermitage, the property was owned and settled by Nathaniel Hays. In 1780, Nathaniel laid claim to a 640- acre preemption land grant comprised of heavily forested level land with rich soil served by natural springs and creeks. The Cumberland and Stone’s rivers were less than two miles away from Hays’ land that would eventually become The Hermitage.

The ongoing Indian wars caused many settlers to flee the region, including Nathaniel Hays, who returned to East Tennessee by 1783. By 1798 the Indian wars ceased and Nathaniel Hays brought his wife Elizabeth, three children, and two African-American slaves to settle his land in Davidson County. Over the next two years, he supervised the construction of a substantial, two-story, log farmhouse near the “Gravelly Spring.” Hays’ farm adjoined Andrew Jackson’s Hunter’s Hill plantation.

First Hermitage Farmhouse

Hays cleared fields and bartered the cotton he grew at Jackson’s nearby Hunter’s Hill General Store, where he had an account. Besides professional and social ties, Hays and Jackson shared an interest in the military, since Hays was a leader in the Tennessee State Militia. Hays’ daughters often visited Andrew and Rachel Jackson. On July 5, 1804, Hays, who was moving to Bedford County, sold his farm to Jackson for $3,400. Jackson sold his more valuable Hunter’s Hill farm on the Cumberland River to pay off debts. Jackson immediately hired a Nashville craftsman to dress up the farmhouse’s interior with French wallpaper and painted trim. He hired men to clear fields and build fences. In August, he and Rachel moved to their new property, which Jackson initially called “Rural Retreat” before quickly renaming it “Hermitage.” How Jackson decided on the name is not known, but “Hermitage” means essentially the same thing as “Rural Retreat.” Jackson hired two Nashville men to construct a new log Kitchen outbuilding the following year. The Kitchen was a dual-purpose building that also served as slave quarters for Betty the cook and her family.

Initially Jackson operated this cotton farm with nine African-American slaves, but this number gradually grew to forty-four slaves by 1820. Jackson rapidly converted the farm into a prosperous 1,000-acre plantation and supervised the construction of many outbuildings, including a distillery, dairy, carriage shelter, cotton gin and press, and slave cabins at the field quarters. Jackson typically grew two hundred acres of cotton as his cash crop with the remainder of the farm dedicated to producing food stuffs for the for the Jacksons, their slaves, and livestock. Jackson also used part of The Hermitage for his true passion in life, raising racehorses. Andrew and Rachel lived in the log farmhouse until the winter of 1820-1821.

A detail from a Jackson portrait provides the only image of the first version of the Hermitage mansion.

From 1819 to 1821, skilled carpenters and masons hired by Jackson built a Federal- style, two-story brick dwelling for Jackson and his family. At the same time, Jackson employed William Frost, an English gardener from Philadelphia, to design and layout a formal garden for Rachel. The 8- room mansion featured several outbuildings, including a smokehouse and kitchen. In the main stair hall, Rachel Jackson selected scenic wallpapers imported from France that depicted themes from Greek mythology. After brick production began for the mansion, Jackson had new brick slave dwellings built. In the 1820s, brick and log cabins for housing 95 African-American slaves, dotted the Hermitage landscape.

Andrew Jackson took office as seventh President of the United States in 1829. While Jackson was president, his son Andrew Jackson Jr. and Jackson’s Nashville friends saw to Hermitage affairs. A series of overseers managed day- to-day operations. In 1831, while in Washington, President Jackson hired Nashville architect David Morrison to enlarge the mansion dramatically with flanking one-story wings, a two-story entrance portico with Doric columns, a small rear portico, and copper gutters. The east wing contained a library and farm office while a large dining room and pantry comprised the west wing. Jackson also paid Morrison to construct a Grecian “temple & monument” for Rachel Jackson, who had died in 1828. Craftsmen built the domed limestone tomb with a copper roof from 1831 to 1832.

Massachusetts architect Asher Benjamin's pattern books provided the inspiration for some of the mansion's details.

After a chimney fire seriously damaged the mansion on October 13, 1834, President Jackson hired noted Nashville architects and master builders Joseph Reiff and William C. Hume to rebuild the mansion into a stately Greek Revival-style monument. Reiff and Hume completed the repairs in 1836. In 1837, Jackson retired from the U.S. presidency and returned to The Hermitage. Andrew Jackson died on June 8, 1845 and was laid to rest two days later under the tomb next to his wife Rachel. At the time of his death, 161 African-American slaves operated the cotton plantation and resided in dozens of slave cabins scattered about the 1,050-acre plantation.

Decline and Decay, 1845-1889
Upon Jackson’s death, his adopted son Andrew Jackson, Jr. (1808-1865) inherited the property. The following year, he began selling off small outlying parcels of land. He made some improvements to the property such as new carriage drive, gates, and a new fence around the garden, but did little to improve the property’s agricultural efforts. He tried to diversify his moneymaking ventures with an iron works and lead mine in Kentucky, but those efforts were unsuccessful. By 1853, mounting debts forced him to mortgage The Hermitage plantation.

1856 print of The Hermitage

The first movement to “save” The Hermitage occurred in the 1850s. In January 1854, Congress rejected a proposal to use The Hermitage as a southern branch of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In 1856, Andrew Jackson, Jr. sold a 500-acre core section of the 1,050-acre farm, including the mansion and outbuildings, for $48,000 to the State of Tennessee. The State bought the property with the intent that it would be put to a public use, such as a school, but funding was unavailable so the State allowed the Jackson family to remain at The Hermitage as tenants. Between 1856 and 1861, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate contentiously debated whether to accept Tennessee’s offer of The Hermitage for a branch of West Point, but ultimately rejected the idea. In 1857, Governor Andrew Johnson also proposed converting The Hermitage into an “Executive Mansion” for the governor. That year, Andrew Jackson, Jr. sold the remaining 550 acres of The Hermitage farm to private buyers. In 1858, the Jackson family vacated the property and relocated to a cotton plantation in Mississippi, taking nearly all the slaves with them. At least five slaves remained at The Hermitage serving as caretakers and tenants.

From 1859 to 1861, Tennessee politicians proposed several new uses for The Hermitage, including a State Military School and a model farm for the Tennessee Agricultural Bureau. No proposal succeeded. In 1860, Governor Isham Harris became the first political leader to advocate for outright preservation of The Hermitage, but the looming Civil War prevented any such action. In the fall of 1860, Andrew Jackson, Jr. and family returned as Hermitage tenants, their Mississippi cotton plantation had failed, bringing a handful of slaves with them. During the early years of the Civil War, some Hermitage slaves left the property for freedom. Although several important battles took place at Nashville and in the surrounding region, no military action took place near The Hermitage. During the Civil War, the Confederate States of America proposed converting The Hermitage into a Confederate Military Academy, but like all others, this proposal was never implemented. At the end of the Civil War, the 13th Amendment officially freed all Hermitage slaves.

Andrew Jackson, Jr. died in 1865 leaving his widow, Sarah, to oversee The Hermitage. After the Civil War ended, Sarah Jackson and her son, Andrew Jackson III conducted the very small farming operation with paid day labor and tenant farmers. The Hermitage farm fell into disrepair and the buildings began a slow deterioration. The state government was without funds for rebuilding vital infrastructure, much less maintaining this state-owned historic site. In 1865, Governor William G. Brownlow instructed repairs be made to Jackson’s tomb, and a survey completed for the entire property. In 1866, Governor Brownlow made several unsuccessful proposals for its use, including a public institution for invalid soldiers. The following year, the Tennessee Legislature authorized a public auction of The Hermitage, however, it never followed through.

The Hermitage in 1885

In the 1870s and 1880s, as Nashville grew into a southern commercial center, increasing numbers of people, from newspaper journalists to wealthy Nashvillians, began to make excursions to The Hermitage. Tennessee politicians continued to explore options regarding the proper use of this state- owned property. In 1883, the State approved $350 for repairing the Tomb and building an iron fence around it. The state undertook no other action until 1888, when the legislature proposed converting the Hermitage mansion into a hospital for invalid Confederate soldiers. This led to public outcry for preservation of the landmark and ultimately to the creation of an organization of Tennessee women who fought to save The Hermitage

Preservation

Tennessee Confederate Soldiers Home

In April 1889 Tennessee chartered the Ladies’ Hermitage Association (LHA), an organization modeled directly on the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association of the Union—who had purchased and opened George Washington’s Mount Vernon as a museum in 1860. Members of the LHA lobbied Tennessee politicians into a compromise that would turn over the Hermitage mansion to them, while allowing a Confederate Soldier’s Home to be constructed elsewhere on the property. On the last day of legislative session, with one member of the LHA lobbying feverishly on the capitol floor, the Tennessee Legislature approved the proposal. This bill gave the LHA control of the 25-acre core section of the Hermitage farm that included the mansion, garden, remains of the original log Hermitage farmhouse, and several historic outbuildings. The Tennessee Legislature awarded the remaining 475 acres to the Tennessee Confederate Soldiers’ Home. The Home itself was completed in 1892 and stood about one-half mile from the Hermitage mansion. The Soldiers’ Home used the acreage for a farming operation that helped support the institution.

Early members of the Ladies' Hermitage Association

Members of the LHA set to work on planning and making long-deferred repairs to the buildings and grounds. This included a major project for the original log Hermitage farmhouse and kitchen outbuilding. The farmhouse had been seriously damaged during a summer storm, causing the chimney and a wall to collapse. From 1889 to 1897, the LHA repaired not only the “First Hermitage,” but also the Hermitage mansion and helped repair the adjoining Hermitage Church, which was then privately owned. These were the first historic preservation projects undertaken in Tennessee and among the first in the U.S. They also began efforts to purchase the Hermitage mansion furnishings from the Jackson family. Their first acquisition came in 1897 with the purchase of Andrew Jackson’s bedroom furnishings, including the paintings, furniture, and curtains. By the 1920s, the LHA had successfully purchased most of the mansion furnishings from the Jackson family and, turned its attention to enlarging and improving the Hermitage grounds. The State of Tennessee turned over 232 acres in 1923 and in 1933 the Tennessee Confederate Soldiers’ Home shut down and the entire 500-acre farm was given to the LHA to manage. In the 1930s, the LHA secured Work Progress Administration funding for a project to convert the Hermitage into a working farm. WPA workers razed much of the former Confederate Soldiers’ Home, using the salvaged materials to construct several new buildings, including a ticket office, caretaker’s residence, and museum.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the LHA continued to enlarge The Hermitage property by acquiring surrounding lands and historic buildings, including Tulip Grove mansion and the Hermitage Church. In 1960, the federal government recognized The Hermitage as a National Historic Landmark. In the 1960s and 1970s, as Nashville suburban growth encroached on The Hermitage, the LHA convinced the State of Tennessee to purchase the remaining portion of the Hermitage plantation, which Andrew Jackson, Jr. had sold to private individuals in 1857. Developers wished to build sprawling residential subdivisions here, but the state converted this land into the Hermitage Wildlife Management Area, which was turned over to the LHA in 2002. Today, the LHA manages 1,120 acres, which includes the entire 1,050-acre tract that Andrew Jackson owned when he died in 1845.

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