Andrew Jackson's Hermitage: A Date with History

As I prepared to visit Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, I felt a wide range of emotions. In our current era, we look back on Jackson’s presidency and judge; we judge him for his treatment of African Americans, we judge him for the “Indian Removal” – both rightly so.

Yet at the same time, he was a patriot who fought in the Revolutionary War. He rose from being an orphan, who was mostly self-taught, to being a war hero who successfully defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. Because of him, non-landowners were given the right to vote. He was the first to assert the importance of a party system and federal authority. He shaped much of how American government still functions.

I truly didn’t know what I would encounter at the place dedicated to conserve his memory and legacy. What I found surprised me and inspired personal contemplation. As one of the historians stated in the introductory video: Andrew Jackson represents both the best and the worst of America. It is this embedded dichotomy within both the man and the country that makes Jackson’s legacy, and in turn his home, so interesting and worth a deeper exploration.

The Hermitage is a classic example of Greek Revival architecture that can be found all over the South. Almost everything in the house, down to the wallpaper, is original. (Though the upstairs wallpaper had to be replaced due to a fire at the end of the 20th century). This in part is due to the fact that Jackson’s son, deeply in debt, sold the property to the state of Tennessee.

As with Jackson himself, the guides within the house always had a story to tell. My favorite was the first. She was the embodiment of everything I imagine southern grandmother should be. Each story she told – like the tale about the painting in the hallway of “Christopher Columbus,” that was actually a painting of some Italian noble – drew the listener in, leaving them wanting more.

According to my mother, I’d visited The Hermitage in 8th grade. I have no memory of this, but as I told mom: “I was probably old housed out” after almost a month traveling to different historic sites on the eastern side of America. I’m not surprised that I don’t remember it. The house resembles most affluent houses of the early 19th century. Now, as an adult, I realize that what makes these places interesting is not the what, but the who. And The Hermitage was full of “whos.” One of my favorite parts of my time on the property was how they embraced the contrasts of those people and the lives they lived in concert but with deep segregation.

The house where the Jackson family lived dominates the landscape, but within its shadow is the home of Alfred Jackson, a Black man who spent his entire life (about 80 years) at The Hermitage – first as a slave and later as its caretaker. He is a significant part of the reason so much is known about the Jacksons and the enslaved who worked the lands. The final thought you’re left with after reading about his life, is a conversation he had when he was told by a white man: “Freedom had its burdens, as well as slavery.” To which Alfred replied, “How would you like to be a slave?”

For me, what made The Hermitage so interesting was not the house, but how well the curators encouraged people to think, to consider the man and his legacy, not just the good, but the bad. They acknowledge that he wasn’t always a good man, but they ask you to consider if he was a great man, a man that was a product of his time and one – for good or bad – changed America.

It is telling to me that on his tomb he did not want “President Andrew Jackson” but “General.” Take what you will from that, but I think that choice frames both the man and how we should consider his legacy.