🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: The Hermitage in Tennessee

(Explore the history and landscape of the United States as we approach the 250th anniversary of American Independence. Get out your atlas and almanac and follow along!)

Tennessee is our homeschool state-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today with your students learning about one of Tennessee’s important historic places: The Hermitage, the home and estate of President Andrew Jackson.

“The Hermitage is built in a secluded meadow that was chosen as a house site by Jackson’s wife, Rachel. From 1804 to 1821 the couple lived there in a log cabin.”

Jackson commissioned construction of a more refined home, and the original plantation house was a two-story, Federal-style mansion built with bricks manufactured onsite. Built between 1819 and 1821, the house had four rooms on both floors, each with a fireplace and chimney. The large central hallways opened in warm weather from front to back to form a breezeway. A simple portico was added later. In 1831, while Jackson was residing in the White House, he had the building remodeled in Classical style under the direction of architect David Morrison. The result included flanking one-story wings, a one-story entrance portico with 10 columns, and a small rear portico.

The site today covers 1,120 acres, which includes the original 1,050-acre tract of Jackson’s land. It is overseen and managed by The Andrew Jackson Foundation, formerly called the Ladies’ Hermitage Association. The mansion is approached by a cedar-lined, 10-foot wide, guitar-shaped carriage drive designed by Ralph E.W. Earl. The design made it easier to maneuver carriages in the narrow space. To the east of the house was a 1-acre formal garden designed by Philadelphia-based gardener William Frost in 1819. Laid out in the English four-square kitchen garden style, it consists of four quadrants and a circular center bedroom contained by unusually long, beveled bricks and pebbled pathways. Originally, the garden was primarily used to produce food for the mansion and, secondarily, as an ornamental pleasure garden. (wikipedia.com)

You can find a wealth of additional information about the Hermitage’s history, landscape, location(s), and visitor facilities on the site’s own webpage (thehermitage.com), and also on the Hermitage page on Wikipedia.

Explore America’s National Parks, National Historical Parks, National Historic Sites, National Monuments, and more via Wikipedia and via the U.S. National Park Service’s website today.

What American treasures will you and your students be exploring in your homeschool this Orion Term? 🇺🇸

❡ The great globe itself: This is one of our regular Homeschool Geography posts featuring important natural and historical sites in the United States. Print your own copy of our River Houses American Heritage Calendar and follow along with us, and add your name to our weekly mailing list to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🌎

❡ We set to-day a votive stone: If you want a great long-term history and geography project for your homeschool, explore the Historical Marker Database online (hmdb.org) and make a plan to find all the markers that are listed in your local area. Add any new ones you know of that are missing, and add new photos or descriptions for the ones already included. Your students will gain a better appreciation for your local community and will learn a wealth of new information about history and geography. 🏛️

❡ Print this little lesson: Down at the bottom of this post you’ll find a special “Print” button that will let you create a neat and easy-to-read copy of this little lesson, and it will even let you edit and delete sections you don’t want or need (such as individual images or footnotes). Give it a try today! 🖨️

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses atlas and almanac for more information about any of our homeschool states-of-the-week. The almanac has detailed profiles of all the U.S. states and territories, and the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found. 📚

❡ Homeschool calendars: We have a whole collection of free, printable, educational homeschool calendars and planners available on our main River Houses calendar page. They will help you create a light and easy structure for your homeschool year. Give them a try today! 🗓️

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