Alfred's Cabin

All of the slave dwellings on the property are a similar 20 feet square single story unit with a small loft (most likely for children to sleep), one door, one window, and a fireplace. Excavations of all of these very standardized dwellings have uncovered root cellars, which would have been underneath the floorboards and accessed by a hatch door.What makes these root cellars unique are the variability among cabins in their location, size, and construction indicating that the slaves, and not the Jacksons,  built them. 

In the north yard of the mansion, only Alfred’s Cabin remains. It is a log duplex organized around a central chimney, a house form commonly known as a saddlebag. Built of red cedar logs, recent studies have shown it to have been built in 1841.  It is called Alfred’s Cabin, because Alfred Jackson lived in it as a freedman until his death in 1901.

Archaeological excavations at the three unit slave quarter in the Hermitage backyard revealed much information about slaves' home lives.

Archaeologists have also located two other slave dwellings in the north yard near Alfred’s cabin, but little is known about them. Today, Hermitage archaeologists believe that both sides of the north yard were lined with multiple slave dwellings, but more archaeological work is required to find those structures.

 At least four slave dwellings are known to have stood in the First Hermitage area.  The First Hermitage kitchen, a duplex or double pen log kitchen and slave dwelling was built in 1805. This log building had a dividing wall with chimneys at either end. The First Hermitage kitchen stood just forty feet from the First Hermitage farmhouse where Jackson lived from 1804 to 1821. After 1821, the farmhouse first floor was removed log by log and the remaining second floor served as a slave quarter with three rooms and one chimney. Another log cabin and a brick duplex were also located in the First Hermitage area.

An artist's interpretation of the brick field quarter slave cabins.