Being the history nerds that we are, we couldn’t visit Nashville without paying a visit to the home of one of her most famous (and infamous) citizens, Andrew Jackson. The Hermitage, his home and plantation for some 41 years, is a beautifully preserved historic landmark just Northeast of the city, and sits on 350 acres of woods and fields and gently rolling hills. At its height, the plantation (or farm, more accurately) covered nearly 1200 acres, and produced large volumes of cotton and dairy products, as well as subsistence crops and race horses.
Walking along the paths and through the planted rows of cedars and other trees, it isn’t hard to imagine the fields in work, while various family friends and dignitaries came and went along the shady, curved carriageway leading to the front of the mansion. Although he was a self-educated lawyer, statesman, and the 7th President of the United States, the farm at the Hermitage provided for most of Jackson’s income, and while he certainly wasn’t among the richest men in the antebellum South, he seemed to do well with what he had. Each part of the mansion, and indeed the rest of the property, seemed to reflect an effort to make the modest appear luxurious, and create an impression of great wealth, without having spent too much. A shewd man, was Andrew Jackson.
And like the man himself, the mansion is a study in constant struggle, contradiction and revision. The mansion went through three distinct phases of construction, first as a simple brick two-story house, then with the addition of the East and West wings, and finally, after a devastating fire, a complete renovation into the Greek Revival style, in which it sits today. The somewhat simple exterior is contrasted with an exquisitely detailed interior, headlined by an entry hall wallpapered with a stunning mural depicting the visit of Telemachus to the island of Calypso. The dining room, parlors and library are all beautifully appointed, and General Jackson’s enormous books, in which he stored reams of newspaper clippings, still are stacked next to his reclining chair.
While the mansion and property are faithfully preserved and restored to their condition around the time of Jackson’s death in 1845, Katie and I found the audio tour and information placards frustrating. They seemed to focus entirely on the theme of “there were slaves here, and slavery’s bad,” instead of educating us on the life and times of Jackson and his family. Having read a biography of Jackson last year, I found this to be a disservice to the man and to the visitor, as to understand his life is to understand a crucial and difficult time in American history, that goes far beyond her struggle with slavery. To be sure, understanding the plight of slaves in the South is an important concept, but that’s not what brings a quarter million visitors to the Hermitage each year. They come to learn about Jackson, who was enigmatic and heroic, a father and a villain, but most of all, a man who overcame nearly everything one can in a single lifetime and triumphed.
It’s a pity that the opportunity for so many to learn from such a lifetime is somewhat squandered, in the name of a simpler, more popular theme.
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| Jackson’s tomb, where he lies alongside his beloved wife, Rachel |