Front view of the house from dividing point in the entrance driveway.
Close-up view of the façade.
II: ORIGINAL BUILDING, FIRE AND REBUILDING
The Hermitage today is identically as it was when Andrew Jackson died in 1845. Nothing has been added to it; nothing has been taken away. But as it stands now, and as it stood in 1845, it is much more elaborate architecturally than the original house built in 1819. Additions were made to the first building in 1831, and some further elaboration was done in 1834 when the house was reconstructed after being damaged by fire. The fire at that time only partially destroyed the house; it did not seriously injure the stone foundations and the stout brick walls, and these are today practically the same as when they were built in 1819, except that to cover up the smoke stains the front wall was painted white—an idea perhaps borrowed from the painting of the White House in Washington in 1816 to conceal the evidence of its having been burned by the British.
Parton, who had the advantage of talking with Jackson’s contemporaries, is authority for the statement that the Hermitage was built in 1819, the work on it beginning in the summer of that year when the General had returned from the Seminole war in such bad health that he was doubtful whether he would live long. Parton says:
“Major Lewis tells me that he rode out to the Hermitage one day soon after General Jackson began to get about after his severe illness. With slow and faltering steps, leaning heavily on his stick, the General took him to the site selected for the new residence—a very level spot in a large flat field, near the old block-house. Major Lewis recommended another site slightly elevated above the almost prarie-like level of the farm. ‘No, Major,’ said the General, ‘Mrs. Jackson chose this spot, and she shall have her wish. I am going to build this house for her. I don’t expect to live in it myself.’ And there the house was built.”
That Mrs. Jackson had designated the spot where the house should stand was recalled by the General again in 1834 after the fire when it was suggested to him that it might be rebuilt in another location. Then he wrote to his adopted son: “Was it not on the site selected by my dear departed wife I would build it higher up the hill;” but the fact that Rachel had originally selected it definitely settled in his mind any question as to whether the location of the house should be changed.
In the interest of strict accuracy it should be pointed out that the ground where the house stands is not quite so prairie-like level as Parton describes it. On the contrary, it is on the side of a gently sloping hill. The floor of the front portico is but one step off the ground, whereas a flight of several steps is needed to reach the back porch; and there is a quite perceptible rise of ground between the entrance gate and the house.