One of our goals while traveling is to see as much US history as possible. With the limited time that we had to spend in the Nashville area, I turned to TripAdvisor for making our sightseeing plans. They have the Hermitage listed as #6 of 253 things to do in Nashville. We figured with it being ranked so highly, we’d give it a try.

Honestly, we didn’t know very much about Andrew Jackson other than that he was a President of US and that his face is on the $20 bill.

Mansion Tour

The mansion is stunning inside and out. It’s very difficult to get a good picture of the outside of it due to the fact that it’s hidden in the trees. Taking pictures of the inside wasn’t permitted. I’m finding that this is the case in most of historical places and museums we’ve visited so far.

The mansion tour seemed a bit short for how large the house is. I felt like they were just shuffling us through for the next tour. It lasted maybe 20 minutes or so. The tour guides were pretty informative and could answer most of the questions asked about Andrew Jackson and the Mansion.

We started the tour in the very stunning entry way of the Mansion. The Hand painted wallpaper is beautiful. I love to see the craftsmanship that went in to the creation of things of the past.

The Parlor where Andrew Jackson entertained guests and visitors was beautifully decorated and I could have spent at least an hour, if not more, just looking at all the detail and decor.

I could go on about the beauty of the rest of the Mansion for quite a while, but I’m not poetic in my writing and I have no pictures to make up for my lack of writing capabilities, so, I will save you from boredom and just say that it is worth visiting if you love old historical stuff and you’re in the Nashville area.

Touring the Grounds? Wear Your Walking Shoes!

There’s so much to see outside of the Mansion itself. We did a LOT of walking. It took about 1.5 hours to do the audio tour and see everything.

The audio tour was interesting, easy to follow and worth the money. Plus they gave us a map to find the places to visit during the audio tour. It’s so spread out I think we would have missed things if we didn’t have a map.

What we saw on the tour:

  • The first Hermitage- Where Andrew and Rachel Jackson lived until the mansion was built
  • Rachel’s garden- Gorgeous flowers! It’s a one-acre garden modeled after an English garden
  • Yard cabin and ice house
  • Remnants of farm buildings used on Jackson’s cotton plantation
  • Old cotton fields
  • Slave quarters
  • Little nature hikes- between things to see on the grounds
  • The Jackson’s tomb. Right in Rachel’s garden