THE TOMB
The tomb was built by General Jackson in 1831 and was erected over his wife, with a vault for himself.
The inscription on General Jackson’s tomb is:
General Andrew Jackson
Born March 15, 1767
Died June 8, 1845
The inscription on Mrs. Jackson’s tomb was written by her husband, and is as follows:
“Here lie the remains of Mrs. Rachel Jackson, wife of President Jackson, who died the 22nd of December, 1828. Age, 61 years. Her face was fair, her person pleasing, her temper amiable, her heart kind; she delighted in relieving the wants of her fellow creatures, and cultivated that divine pleasure by the most liberal and unpretending methods; to the poor she was a benefactor; to the rich an example; to the wretched a comforter; to the prosperous an ornament; her piety went hand in hand with her benevolence, and she thanked her Creator for being permitted to do good. A being so gentle and so virtuous slander might wound, but could not dishonor. Even death, when he bore her from the arms of her husband, could but transport her to the bosom of her God.”
The other graves on the plot are those of the adopted son, Andrew Jackson, Jr., and his wife, Mrs. Sarah York Jackson. Two infants lie buried there; also one son, Samuel Jackson, who was killed at Chickamauga; the grave of Dr. John M. Lawrence, who married Rachel, the idol of the old General’s life. In February, 1923, the spirit of Mrs. Rachel Jackson Lawrence passed into the great beyond, and her body rests beside her husband and near her grandfather, the great hero, who affectionately looked upon and called her his “beloved little Rachel.” The grave of Col. R. E. W. Earl, friend and companion of Jackson, is there. Further apart from the other graves is that of Mrs. Marion Adams, the widowed sister of Mrs. Sarah Jackson who always resided with her, and whose family was reared at the Hermitage. On December 19, 1906, Col. Andrew Jackson, grandson, was laid beside his kindred dust in the garden, and his wife, Mrs. Amy Jackson, who died January 9, 1921, lies beside him. There are also the graves of John Marshall Lawrence, 1859-1926, and Thomas Donelson Lawrence, 1869-1942, sons of Mrs. Rachel Jackson Lawrence; and Anne Laurie Lawrence Smith, born at the Hermitage April 3, 1855, died February 4, 1937, and Sazie Lawrence Winn, born at Hermitage March 15, 1854, died May 6, 1882, daughters of Mrs. Lawrence. Andrew Jackson, IV, son of Col. Andrew and Mrs. Amy Jackson, was buried here in 1953.
The grave of Uncle Alfred, freed slave who preferred to remain at the Hermitage and who wanted to be buried near General Jackson, is located to the north of the tomb in the garden.
The stone seat near the tomb is one of three presented to the Hermitage by Mrs. Marvin E. Holderness, Mr. Robert F. Jackson, Jr., and Mr. N. Baxter Jackson of New York, in memory of their mother, Mrs. Robert F. Jackson, who served as Regent of the Ladies’ Hermitage Association. Mrs. Robert F. Jackson’s grandmother, Mrs. Mary L. Baxter, served as first Regent 1889-1899.