The Hermitage, Home of General Andrew Jackson

by Mary C. Dorris

MRS. SARAH YORK JACKSON

By Mrs. Walter Stokes

No history of the Hermitage could be complete without a sketch of Mrs. Sarah York Jackson, the beloved daughter-in-law of General Jackson. She was the daughter of Peter Stilley and Mary Haines York, a wealthy shipowner of Philadelphia. She and her two sisters were left orphans at an early age and were educated at Miss Mallon’s School for Young Ladies in Philadelphia. Sarah was the second and most beautiful of the sisters and always said she would never marry unless the President should come courting. One day, while out walking, in the early spring, she met a cousin of hers, a young army officer, in company with a very handsome young man. The handsome young man proved to be the President’s son, Andrew Jackson, Jr. They were introduced. It was love at first sight. The President approved, and they were married in October, 1831, at the home of her sister, Mrs. Joshua Lippincott, in Philadelphia, going immediately by carriage to the White House in Washington, where a brilliant reception was held in her honor, and where President Jackson received her with the greatest affection and pride. At this reception she wore the lovely wedding dress which is now on display in the National Museum in Washington, with the costumes of the other mistresses of the White House. Her portrait was painted at this time by Earl. The red velvet dress pictured is in the Hermitage museum.

This portrait hangs in the dining room at the Hermitage, of which the accompanying picture is a copy. An old copy hangs in the White House, of which she was mistress for some years, a position which, by her natural grace and tact and great beauty, she was eminently fitted to fill. All of her children were born at the Hermitage, and the family was the solace and comfort of General Jackson’s declining years. She had grown dearer and dearer to his heart and came next to his beloved wife, Rachel, who had died when he was elected President.

HERMITAGE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Erected in 1823, across the Lebanon Road from Rachel’s Lane, this church is open to the public and services are still held there. General Jackson, to please his devoutly religious, beloved wife, was the largest contributor to the building fund and always referred to it as “Mrs. Jackson’s Church.” In his latter years he was a faithful member, frequently arriving before the service with his man servant to see that the fires were properly made. Two log fireplaces were used for heat, home-made brick for flooring, and candles for lighting.

The HERMITAGE

The log cabin located at the northeast corner of the Hermitage grounds is part of the group of log houses which comprised the original Hermitage, where General and Mrs. Jackson resided from 1804 until 1819.

The first home in which Andrew Jackson and Rachel, his wife, lived was at Poplar Grove. This tract of land was bought by Andrew Jackson from Captain John Donelson, brother of Mrs. Jackson, on April 30, 1793, for the sum of one hundred pounds. In the deed its location is described as being “on the south side of Cumberland River in Jones’ Bend ... being the lower end of a survey of 630 acres granted the said John Donelson by patent....”

When the Jacksons returned to Nashville from Natchez in the early autumn of 1791 they made their home with Mrs. Jackson’s mother, Mrs. John Donelson, who lived on the opposite side of the river from Jackson’s property in Jones’ Bend, near the present pike which leads from Nashville to Gallatin. Indian hostilities and the long absences necessitated by Andrew Jackson’s legal business in the courts of both the Cumberland and the Holston settlements, made it impossible for him to leave his bride in the home located outside of the heavily fortified portions of the settlement. Sometime between April 30, 1793, and the spring of 1794, however, a home was built at Poplar Grove and occupied. A letter of Andrew Jackson’s dated May 16, 1794, was headed “Poplar Grove.” Even then Poplar Grove was not safe, for as late as September, 1794, reports to the War Department state that five men were fired upon by the Indians.

On March 7, 1796, Andrew Jackson bought the Hunter’s Hill tract of 640 acres from John Shannon for the sum of $700. The Hunter’s Hill house was located about two miles from the present Hermitage mansion.

A little more than a month and a half after the sale of the Hunter’s Hill property, Andrew Jackson purchased the Hermitage estate. On the twenty-third of August, 1804, he paid Nathaniel Hays $3,400 for the 425-acre tract, “with its appurtenances,” which was to become “The Hermitage.” This reference to appurtenances supports the statement made in later years by Mrs. James K. Polk, wife of the eleventh President of the United States, that the Hermitage of the log cabin period “was not the commodious country house so familiar to devout Democrats in pilgrimages of later years. It was a group of log houses in close proximity to each other. The principal one had been built for a block-house in the days of Indian alarms, afterwards used as a store and, about 1804, converted into a dwelling. It, like all block-houses, was two stories high. Near it were three smaller houses, one story high, with low attics. These were used as lodgings for members of the family or guests.”

Aaron Burr was entertained in these log buildings when he made his famous visits to the Hermitage in 1805 and 1806, and it was to this humble home that General Jackson returned after the Battle of New Orleans (January 8, 1815), which had made him the Conquering Hero and idol of the nation.

Sometime during 1818 the site of the brick mansion was selected and the square house which forms the central portion of the present building was erected. Diligent research by the leading Jackson students of the nation has failed to reveal the exact date or details of the construction of this building. It is generally agreed, however, that it was completed in 1819 and was occupied when President Monroe was a guest at the Hermitage in June, 1819. The Marquis de Lafayette was entertained in this building in 1825, and many other celebrities knew its hospitality. The simple, but commodious home was the center of the 1828 campaign which resulted in electing Andrew Jackson to the presidency of the United States.

In 1831 wings and other improvements were added to the square brick building which had been erected in 1818-1819. At this time the present kitchen and smoke-house were built and the tomb in the garden was erected. Three years later—October 13, 1834—fire destroyed much of the interior and the roof of the building. The present dining-room wing, the kitchen, and out-houses were not burned, however. With the exception of a few large pieces on the second floor, all of the furniture, as well as General Jackson’s valuable papers, clothing, and gifts received after the victory at New Orleans, were saved.

With the rebuilding the gabled roofs on the wings and central portions of the building were changed to their present appearance and the ten rather unattractive columns of the 1831 building gave place to the present stately ones. The interior was also improved. The mansion, as it stands today, was repaired and ready for occupancy by May, 1835. The walls, being sturdily built in the beginning, withstood the fire, making it necessary for only the woodwork and the interiors to be rebuilt.

General Jackson died in 1845 at the age of 78 years, and was buried by the side of his wife in the tomb in the garden.

The Hermitage Farm, of 500 acres, was sold by Andrew Jackson, Jr., in 1856, to the State of Tennessee for the sum of $48,000.

Andrew Jackson, Jr., and his family then left the Hermitage, but, at the invitation and solicitation of Gov. Isham G. Harris, returned in 1860 to become its custodian until further disposition could be made of the property.

The State of Tennessee offered the Hermitage to the United States Government for a branch of West Point Academy, but the Civil War prevented the consummation of the plan.

The family of the adopted son, Andrew Jackson, Jr., remained at the Hermitage during the Civil War.

General George H. Thomas, commandant of the post at Nashville during the Civil War, sent out a detailed guard to protect the place and save it from devastation.

Andrew Jackson, Jr., died at the Hermitage in 1865, leaving his widow, Mrs. Sarah Jackson, and her widowed sister, Mrs. Marion Adams, the sole occupants of the Hermitage. The daughter, Rachel, had married Dr. John M. Lawrence, and all the young men, the sons of Andrew and Sarah Jackson, also those of Mrs. Adams, five in number, joined the Confederate Service. Only one, Col. Andrew Jackson, returned.

The State Legislature allowed Mrs. Sarah Jackson to remain tenant at will, during her life, at the Hermitage. She died in 1888, her sister, Mrs. Adams, having preceded her to the grave. Both are buried in the garden.

Col. Andrew Jackson, III, after serving gallantly as Colonel of Artillery in the Confederate Army, returned, the only surviving soldier of the Hermitage family, a released prisoner from Camp Chase. He remained with his mother during her life and by her will inherited the household furniture, mementoes, and relics of the old hero. Colonel Jackson died in Knoxville, Tenn., December 17, 1906, and was buried in the Hermitage garden by the side of his brother, Capt. Samuel Jackson. Andrew Jackson, IV, son of Colonel and Mrs. Jackson, died in Los Angeles, California, 1953, and is buried in the Hermitage garden. His brother, Albert Marble Jackson, was reputedly lost at sea.