Saturday, May 28th
We have always understood that President Andrew Jackson was rather a cantankerous man who made life difficult for many lawmakers with whom he worked. Touring his home and listening to both the taped information and the words of the live presenters left us with the sense that he was also difficult at home. He owned somewhere between 80 and 140 slaves, and he was not necessarily a warm master. He was, however, a successful businessman. His son who took over after the ex-president's death was not so successful in business. Within 11 years, Andrew Jackson Jr. had lost his father's large fortune and had to sell the homestead to the state of Tennessee. Although the situation was sad for the family, it turned out to be a blessing for the state since the home is one of the most original and authentic of all tourable homes of former U.S. presidents.
One situation that was particularly interesting is that Jackson fell in love and married a woman who was already married to another man. This situation resulted in many social difficulties for the two of them for many years. Also, since he was 6'1" tall and weighed about 140 pounds and she was 5'1" and quite plump made them a visually-unusual couple.
Another interesting tidbit is that Jackson and his wife built a two story, multiple room log cabin and lived in it for 17 years before building the mansion. When they moved into the mansion, Jackson decided to use the log cabin as slave quarters. But, since it was unacceptable for a slave family to live in a two-story house, he had one of the floors removed. Even then, the remaining one story had three rooms rather than the standard one room in a slave-family home at the Hermitage. One of the most-skilled slaves was given this home.
The pictures show some of the one-story slave homes as well as some outlines where other slave homes once stood.
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