An Architect, with a Love of History

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From 1819 to 1821, skilled carpenters and masons hired by Andrew Jackson built a Federal- style, two-story brick dwelling for Jackson and his family. At the same time, Jackson employed William Frost, an English gardener from Philadelphia, to design and layout a formal garden for Rachel. The 8- room mansion featured several outbuildings, including a smokehouse and kitchen. In the main stair hall, Rachel Jackson selected scenic wallpapers imported from France that depicted themes from Greek mythology. After brick production began for the mansion, Jackson had new brick slave dwellings built. In the 1820s, brick and log cabins for housing 95 African-American slaves, dotted the Hermitage landscape.

Andrew Jackson took office as seventh President of the United States in 1829. While Jackson was president, his son Andrew Jackson Jr. and Jackson's Nashville friends saw to Hermitage affairs. A series of overseers managed day- to-day operations. In 1831, while in Washington, President Jackson hired Nashville architect David Morrison to enlarge the mansion dramatically with flanking one-story wings, a two-story entrance portico with Doric columns, a small rear portico, and copper gutters. The east wing contained a library and farm office while a large dining room and pantry comprised the west wing. Jackson also paid Morrison to construct a Grecian "temple & monument" for Rachel Jackson, who had died in 1828. Craftsmen built the domed limestone tomb with a copper roof from 1831 to 1832.

After a chimney fire seriously damaged the mansion on October 13, 1834, President Jackson hired noted Nashville architects and master builders Joseph Reiff and William C. Hume to rebuild the mansion into a stately Greek Revival-style monument. Reiff and Hume completed the repairs in 1836. In 1837, Jackson retired from the U.S. presidency and returned to The Hermitage. Andrew Jackson died on June 8, 1845 and was laid to rest two days later under the tomb next to his wife Rachel. At the time of his death, 161 African-American slaves operated the cotton plantation and resided in dozens of slave cabins scattered about the 1,050-acre plantation.

(Taken from www.thehermitage.com)

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