1. Overview
    1. Location
    2. Date Constructed/ Founded
    3. Associated Surnames
    4. Historical notes
    5. Associated Slave Workplaces
  2. Associated Free Persons
  3. Associated Enslaved Persons
  4. Research Leads and Plantation Records
  5. Miscellaneous Information
  6. References
  7. Users Researching This Workplace

Overview

Location

near Nashville, Davidson Co., TN

Date Constructed/ Founded

1804

Associated Surnames

Hays, Jackson

Historical notes

In the first half of the nineteenth century The Hermitage was home to more than 130 slaves and was one of the largest plantations in Tennessee’s fertile central basin.

Associated Slave Workplaces

Hunters Hill (Davidson Co., TN)


Associated Free Persons

  • Nathaniel Hays - plantation owner; established farm that would later be called "The Hermitage" by Jackson
  • Elizabeth Hays - wife of Nathaniel Hays
  • Andrew Jackson (b.1767-d.1845) - owner of Hunters Hill and The Hermitage; 7th President of the United States; purchased farm from Hays in 1804; sold Hunter's Hill
  • Rachel Donelson Jackson (b.1767-d.1828) - wife of Andrew Jackson
  • Andrew Jackson (b.1808-d.1865) - adopted son of Andrew and Rachel D. Jackson

Associated Enslaved Persons

The Slave Population at The Hermitage
From "The Hermitage"

  • Betty - cook; "the Kitchen was a dual-purpose building that also served as slave quarters for Betty the cook and her family."
  • "Initially Jackson operated this cotton farm with nine African-American slaves, but this number gradually grew to forty-four slaves by 1820."
  • "In the 1820s, brick and log cabins for housing 95 African-American slaves, dotted the Hermitage landscape."
  • "At the time of his death (1845), 161 African-American slaves operated the cotton plantation and resided in dozens of slave cabins scattered about the 1,050-acre plantation."
  • "In 1858, the Jackson family vacated the property and relocated to a cotton plantation in Mississippi, taking nearly all the slaves with them. At least five slaves remained at The Hermitage serving as caretakers and tenants."

Research Leads and Plantation Records

  • none reported yet

Miscellaneous Information

  • Slave Houses: most enslaved families lived in single room brick dwellings measuring about 400 square feet. These buildings, many built as duplexes, were clustered in three different areas – one set directly behind the mansion, one about 300 yards behind it, and one, labeled the field quarter, another 350 yards beyond. These cabins, located at the back of the property, were home to the Jacksons from 1804-1821. When the Hermitage mansion was constructed in 1821, the cabins became slave dwellings.

References


Users Researching This Workplace

  • none recorded yet


Page Information

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  • Recent comments:
    Andy McMillion:I live down the street from the Hermitage Plantation site and have taken the tour a few times over the years. When I was a child, the tour just consisted of a tour of the mansion and church. The association who operates the property owns all of the original 1,000 acres. They have recently added a wagon ride out to some of the field sites where the slaves worked as well as an exhibit which lists the many of the slave families and the jobs they performed.
    Andy McMillion:A fairly complete list of the slaves who worked on this plantation by name is at http://thehermitage.com/ . The people who run the website reconfigure it from time-to-time; but as of July 07, the list is reached by clicking on "Discover" then "The Hermitage" then "Slavery." A link to the list is at the bottom of the "Slavery" page.
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