Andrew Jackson’s home, The Hermitage, is located in Nashville, about a 20 minute drive from downtown. The property itself is massive and the entryway into the mansion is impressive. The first part of the tour is a movie presentation orienting you to the life of Jackson and explaining what was going on at the time. After the movie, you walk through a museum area on your way to the mansion.
An interesting piece of information about Jackson is that he married a woman named Rachel Donalsen when he was a young man. The problem is that she was already married to a man named Lewis Robards. They were living separately but were not formally divorced. Donalsen and Jackson married low key in Natchez but the marriage was not actually legal because the first marriage was not yet dissolved.
She was eventually granted a divorce and was then able to marry Jackson legally. Jackson did not realize at the time that this would be used against him by his political enemies. Donalsen never moved into The White House. She died shortly after Jackson was elected President. He thought the stress associated with her name being dragged through the mud during the campaign contributed to her death.
The actual mansion is the next part of the tour. The tour guides are dressed in period costumes and are very knowledgeable about family history, history of the time period and details of the property. There are smaller buidings outside the main home to tour. They include the original smaller home and slave quarters. You are free to tour the remainder of the property on your own.
Give yourself about 3 hours to tour. The cost is about $18. There is a snack bar on the property and a nice picnic area. It can get crowded on the week-end so go during the week if possible.