The Hermitage Garden
An Ever Changing Delight
As with all living things, the Hermitage Garden cannot be wholly defined by any particular moment in time. Gardens grow and change. Few records tell us about the appearance of the garden Andrew Jackson enjoyed. Jackson hired gardener William Frost to establish the garden at the same time he began construction of the Hermitage mansion in 1819. The first garden may have extended closer to the mansion. The garden evolved over many years, and the family made many changes in the late 1840s. The basic layout off the garden you see today may date from that time.
Although Rachel Jackson and other female family members loved the garden and did light work, enslaved workers provided most of the labor. Along with flowers and herbs, they may also have grown vegetables and small fruits such as strawberries and figs in the present grassy plots in the center of each quadrant. Like much else in those times, the ornamental Hermitage garden was worlds away from the gardens grown by the slave near their own quarters.
Marker can be reached from Rachels Lane 0.3 miles east of Hermitage Road.
Courtesy hmdb.org
