The Hermitage

The grand entrance to Andrew Jackson's Hermitage

The final stop before heading home to Las Vegas was Andrew Jackson's Hermitage. This is the home that he built after he retired from the military as the hero of the Battle of New Orleans (the bright spot in the otherwise not-disastrous-but-not-good War of 1812). This is the home to which he retired after completing his two terms as the President of the United States. And this is his permanent home, as he was buried in the garden out back behind the Hermitage.

This being the Year of Our COVID, the Hermitage mansion was closed. This is the back door entrance to the Hermitage. It is much less fancy than classical revival architecture of the front facade.

The grounds were open, however. This is the ice house adjacent to the mansion.

Even though it was locked tight to keep out those nasty COVID germs and the people who may or may not be carrying them, we could take a peek inside the Jackson home. This was an open room at the back entrance. For lack of any other direction, I will call this "the family room":

This was the formal dining room:

Note the portrait of Andrew Jackson above the serving buffet. Vanity of vanities; all is vanity. Of course, he WAS President of the United States. Elected three times, serving once, having been once cheated by a useless scion of the Adams family.

Above is the slave quarters. I am guessing it is the quarters for the house staff, as the field staff (I am purposely using polite terminology) were housed deeper out in the edges of the extensive property.

The front of the house featured a beautiful classical revival facade.

And, as is clear, it was just a facade.

The classical revival style was not carried over to the other three sides of the mansion. And I use the term "mansion" loosely here. The house is about the size of a mid-size house in a typical modern American upscale suburban subdivision. The grounds, however, are extensive. The adjacent garden is only a very small part of the property.

Andrew Jackson and his beloved wife Rachel are buried side-by-side in the garden.

Andrew Jackson's tombstone is actually surprisingly simple. It reads only "General Andrew Jackson",

Jackson's wife Rachel died after Jackson was elected president, but before he assumed office. It is thought that she died from the stress over nasty rumors that were rampant through Washington, D.C., society about her. (I believe the rumors pertained to the question of whether she was legally divorced from her first husband prior to her marriage to Andrew Jackson, but my memory could be wrong on this.)

The huge grounds make for a nice walk. Nowadays.

Back in Andrew Jackson's day, it was a huge cotton plantation, with 200 slaves working the fields. So leisurely walks were out of the question back then.

But the 20-minute nature walk through the property was nice.  This is the "original" hermitage.

Now that is a hermitage. Hermitage is the word for an abode for seclusion, as in the home of a hermit. That log cabin is fit for a hermit. By the time Andrew Jackson's career in the military and planting took off, this little hermitage was abandoned and the "mansion" version of the Hermitage became his home.

The grounds are so huge that even this faun was living there.

The grounds are so large that they can be driven. I drove over to the Hermitage Church, built for the local community. The church was Presbyterian. Jackson's wife Rachel was a devout Presbyterian. Jackson was, I believe, more of a nominal Presbyterian.

And at the end of the road is Tulip Grove, the home of Andrew Jackson's nephew Andrew Jackson Donelson.

Andrew Jackson Donelson, whatever his good qualities may have been, was the vice presidential candidate on Millard Fillmore's 1856 anti-Catholic "Know Nothing" party ticket.

I called on his home.

No one was there. Maybe it was because I am Catholic.