The Hermitage, Home of Old Hickory

by Stanley F. Horn

Detailed and reliable information about the actual construction of the original Hermitage on this site is peculiarly scarce. In all the published Jackson correspondence there is but one reference to the building operations, this being unfortunately without date and merely referring to some difficulties encountered in having the house painted. In a footnote in the published “Correspondence of Andrew Jackson” Doctor Bassett mentions having seen a receipted bill dated June 12, 1818, for $200 for china and silver plate. Doctor Bassett says that it seems fair to assume that this indicates an outlay for the new house, although this is manifestly nothing more than speculation on his part. Most of what we know today about the circumstances attending the construction of the original building is mere surmise, based on inferences and deductions. Jackson was a prolific letter writer; but for some strange reason he seems to have written little or nothing about the building of his new home. Also, unfortunately, there is no information available as to the identity of the original contractor or architect—if there was one.

It has been stated in published articles that the Hermitage was built by an architect named Joseph Reiff; but the only foundation for this seems to lie in the fact that he was the man in charge of the rebuilding after the fire. Mr. Reiff, by the way, did not pose as an architect at all. In the articles of agreement covering the rebuilding he refers to himself simply as a carpenter; and it seems likely that he was one of the class of men known in that time as “journeyman builders”—practical carpenters who went about the country equipped with books of plans of basic architectural designs which they adapted to the needs of their clients. But, regardless of what was his correct technical designation, there is nothing whatever to connect Mr. Reiff with the original building operation in 1819.

Bearing in mind the custom of the times, it is most probable that the house was designed by Jackson himself and the actual construction work done by skilled slave labor, perhaps under the direction of some master builder. The design of the original Hermitage was severely simple and had little about it to suggest that its plans were drawn by a professional architect. It was not at all beyond the capacity of General Jackson. The foundation was of native limestone, quarried on the farm by slaves. The poplar structural lumber and timbers, and the wide red cedar boards for the porch floors, were cut nearby from local timber. The walls were built of brick, burned on the place as was the practice in those days. Brick making was still primitive in its processes. A bed of clay was located, the top soil was removed and lime sprinkled on the clay, and then a black boy on a mule had a good time treading the lime into the clay and thus preparing the raw material for the bricks, which were shaped in hand molds and baked in improvised kilns.

By combining all the available information, it appears certain that the original Hermitage was a simple two-storied, square brick building consisting of four rooms and a hall downstairs and the same arrangement upstairs. There was originally no portico at the back or front, nor did the two wings then grace its sides. It was just a square brick house, with no embellishments or architectural pretensions. From references in letters it seems that, as was common practice at the time, the house and its immediate yard were enclosed in a picket fence, and there is substantiation of this in one of the early prints of the Hermitage, but there are no signs of such a fence today.

It was in this plain house that Jackson and Rachel lived for ten happy years. He was not away from home much in those days. He was elected to the Senate in 1823, but he soon resigned that office. While he was in Washington, chafing under the time-wasting deliberations of Congress, he wrote to John Coffee: “How often does my thoughts lead me back to the Hermitage. There in private life, surrounded by a few friends, would be a paradise compared to the best situation here; and if once more there it would take a writ of habeas corpus to remove me into public life again.” And he was sincere when he wrote that.

In 1831, after he had been inaugurated President, and while he was living in the White House, General Jackson contracted to have the Hermitage enlarged and elaborated in keeping with the increased prestige of its master. Andrew, junior, had just married, too, and the President probably wished to have the house improved for the benefit of his new daughter-in-law, of whom he was very fond. Accordingly, arrangements were made for the addition of the two wings—that containing the dining-room and pantry on the western side and the one embracing the library, or office, the side entrance and the overseer’s room on the garden side of the house. It was at this time also that front and back porticos were added; although, according to engravings made at the time, the front portico was not then two stories high. It merely extended across the front of the lower floor, with its roof below the level of the upstairs windows, except at the front door where it was two stories high with a pediment at the top. The contemporary pictures also show the wings with gables at the front and back, instead of with flat roofs as at present. This remodeling work was done by a contractor named D. Morrison, who had just finished building the stone tomb over Mrs. Jackson’s grave in the garden.

Mr. Morrison wrote to President Jackson on December 6, 1831, announcing the completion of the work on the house and giving some interesting details about the job. In this letter he said:

“The additions and improvements are completed. In addition to the improvements as exhibited in the plan I showed you, I have erected a neat and appropriate portico on the back side of the central building which adds very much to the comfort and convenience of your dwelling. The Hermitage as improved presents a front of 104 feet. The wings project 9 feet in front of the central building and are connected by a collonade of the same breadth. The collonade consists of 10 lofty columns of the Doric order, the entablature carried through the whole line of front, and has wreaths of laurel leaves in the frieze. The upper story consists of a portico surmounted by a pediment which breaks the monotony of the composition in a very satisfactory manner. The materials employed in the improvements are all of the best quality the neighborhood affords. The colonnade is covered with the best copper, the sheets weighing from 12 to 14 pounds each sheet, and the gutters that convey the water from front to back are also of copper. The wing buildings and porticos are roofed with good cedar shingles. The dining room is large and will dine 100 persons at one time comfortably. The wing at the east end contains the library, a large and commodious room; an overseer’s room; and a covered way that protects the three doors leading to the library, overseer’s room and to the back parlor. The old kitchen is removed and the materials employed in the erection of a large and commodious smoke-house which is placed on a line with the new kitchen.”

The reference to the kitchen in Mr. Morrison’s letter, by the way, seems definitely to establish the fact that the present kitchen and smokehouse were built in 1831 and were not parts of the original establishment as built in 1819, as was for a long time supposed. Exactly where the old kitchen stood is not revealed in any records now available; but just to the east of the present kitchen there may be seen in the grass the outlines of a stone foundation which probably indicates its former location.

The total cost of the improvements made at this time was $2,488.50, not including $131.00 paid out at the same time for papering and painting the whole house. The itemized list of expenses was as follows: