The Hermitage
The Hermitage is located in Hermitage, Tennessee, and is known as the Southern White House. This was the home of Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel. Andrew Jackson became the seventh president of the United States on March 4th, 1829, shortly after his wife’s death. Andrew Jackson’s nickname was “Old Hickory”, and he hired prominent Nashville architect David Hickory to dramatically increase the size of the mansion and create a temple and monument for Rachel. The tomb is lime-stoned and was constructed in the garden from 1831 to 1832.
In 1837, Jackson retired from the presidency and moved back to the Hermitage. He would stay in the Hermitage until his death on June 8th, 1845. At this time, the plantation was adopted by Andrew Jackson Jr. However, he was not an effective manager and brought debts to the plantation. He was forced to start selling parcels of land and mortgage the remainder. In 1856, Jackson Jr. sold the estate to the state of Tennessee for 48,000 dollars. Originally, the state wanted to turn the estate into a school but due to lack of funds, the Jacksons continued to live in the house as tenants. The Jacksons would live there until they all passed away.
Many things started to decay due to lack of funds, so Tennessee politicians proposed to use the property by converting it into a hospital for invalid Confederate soldiers in 1888. In response to this, a group of Tennessee women formed an organization to fight for the Hermitage. The Ladies Hermitage Association was chartered by the state of Tennessee and two of the women from this group went to stay in the house overnight. They didn’t have a good night’s sleep, claiming to hear the sounds of Jackson going up and down the steps with his horse all night. Other ghostly activities have taken place here, including a picture taken of a full-body apparition.
(Source: Belanger, Jeff. Encyclopedia of Haunted Places. 2005.)
