The Hermitage (Nashville, Tennessee)

Infobox nrhp
name =The Hermitage
nrhp_type =nhl

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caption = The Hermitage
location = convert|12|mi|km|abbr=on. E of Nashville on U.S. 70N
nearest_city = Nashville, Tennessee
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area =350 acres
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architect =Reiff & Hume
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designated = December 19, 1960cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=543&ResourceType=District
title=The Hermitage |accessdate=2008-10-06|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = October 15, 1966
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refnum = 66000722
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The Hermitage is a historical plantation and museum located in Davidson County, Tennessee, USA, convert|12|mi|km east of downtown Nashville. The plantation was owned by Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States, from 1804 until his death at the Hermitage in 1845. Jackson only lived at the property occasionally until he retired from public life in 1837. It is a National Historic Landmark.

History

The Hermitage is not only the name of Jackson's home but of the surrounding plantation. The land, which was ideally located two miles (3 km) from the Cumberland and Stones rivers, was originally settled by Nathaniel Hays in 1780. Hays sold the convert|640|acre|km2|1|sing=on farm to Jackson in 1804. Jackson and his wife Rachel moved into the existing two-story log cabin. It was split into two one-story buildings used as slave quarters after Jackson built the main house. Initially Jackson operated the cotton farm with nine African slaves, but this number gradually grew to 44 slaves by 1820 as the farm expanded to convert|1000|acre|km2 and plantation agriculture.

The original Hermitage mansion was a two-story 8-room Federal-style brick building built between 1819 and 1821. 1828 was the height and depth of Jackson's life. In November, he was elected 7th President of the United States; however, his wife Rachel died the following month. In 1831, while Jackson was away in the White House, he had the mansion remodeled with flanking one-story wings (one with a library and the other with a large dining room and pantry), a two-story entrance portico with Doric columns and a small rear portico. Jackson also had a Grecian “temple & monument” for Rachel's grave constructed in the garden. Craftsmen completed the domed limestone tomb with a copper roof in 1832. In 1834 a chimney fire seriously damaged much of the building. This prompted Jackson to have the current Greek Revival structure built, which was completed two years later. The entry hall is decorated with wall paper depicting scenes from Telemachus' visit to the island of Calypso.

On May 5, 1863, units of the Union Army, specifically those from Indiana, approached the grounds of the Hermitage. Pvt. Joseph C. Taylor wrote of the account in his diary. In 1889, the Hermitage was opened to the public as a museum, both of Jackson's life and the antebellum South in general. Each year, the home receives more than a quarter million visitors, making it the fourth most visited presidential residence in the country (after the White House, Mount Vernon, and Monticello). The property was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960.citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/66000722.pdf National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: The Hermitage (home of Andrew Jackson) / The Hermitage] |32 KB|date=July 24, 1978 |author=Frank B. Sarles, W. B. Morton III, Polly M. Rettig, and Cecil McKithan |publisher=National Park Service and PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/66000722.pdf "Accompanying four photos, from 1975"] |32 KB]

The tomb of Andrew and Rachel Jackson is located in the Hermitage garden.

The Hermitage escaped a near-disaster during the 1998 Nashville tornado outbreak. An F-3 tornado crossed the property at approximately 4:00pm CDT on April 16, 1998, missing the house and gravesite, but toppling many trees that had reportedly been planted by Jackson himself nearly 200 years earlier. Although the trees had once hidden the house from view of passers-by on U.S. Highway 70, it is now in plain sight.

The Hermitage as namesake

The area of Davidson County surrounding the Hermitage is known as Hermitage, Tennessee. A hotel named the Hermitage Hotel, located in downtown Nashville, Tennessee opened in 1910, and is still operating. Many celebrities and U.S. Presidents have spent time there. [ [http://www.thehermitagehotel.com/site/hotel_history.aspx Hermitage Hotel] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.thehermitage.com/ The Hermitage official website]
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