Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the first president to be born in a log cabin, and two locations claim to be the site of that cabin. One is located near Waxhaw, North Carolina, where a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution first built a monument in 1858, on what was believed to be the base of the original home’s chimney.

A log cabin was carved into the stone monument. There is little else at the site.

Two miles away, in South Carolina, is a monument erected by another local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, claiming this as the site of the log cabin Jackson was born in.

This monument was erected in 1928, weighs three tons, and has a much more specific claim of authenticity carved into it, citing Jackson’s statement that he was born at his Uncle James Crawford’s farm, which was located around here.

To further assert his South Carolinian origins, the state established the Andrew Jackson State Park around the birthplace monument in 1953.

A log cabin-y museum and visitor center was built.

As well as other rustic recreations, such as an imagined log cabin school like the one he might have attended in the area.

A historical plaque at the entrance of the park chooses its words carefully. Part of the uncertainty is due to the fact that the border between North and South Carolina was not fully established until the 1800s.

In North Carolina, the roadside historic sign near that birthplace is worded to allow for some uncertainty and generality to remain.

The location of Jackson’s primary residence outside Nashville, the Hermitage, is certain. It is an established tourist attraction, complete with museum, and tomb.

By the age of 21, Jackson had left his log cabin origins in the Carolinas, and moved to Nashville. He later became a lawyer, congressman, senator, and judge.

In 1801, he became a commander of the Tennessee Militia, and rose to fame for leading decisive battles with Indians and the British, including the Battle of New Orleans, in 1815.

In 1804, he purchased the acreage for the Hermitage and moved there there with his wife, living initially in a log house, which has been reconstructed at the site.

When the Jacksons moved to the main house, completed in 1819, the two-story log structure was converted into two single-story log buildings, and used to house his slaves.

The Hermitage mansion, built in Greek Revival style, was his home for the rest of his life.

During his two terms as president, from 1829-1837, he had the house expanded and improved, and returned to it in retirement, dying there in 1845.

Andrew Jackson’s tomb is in the gardens of the Hermitage, shared with his wife Rachel, whom he buried there after she died in 1818, just before he was elected president.

Jackson left the estate to his adopted son, whose family lived there until 1887.

Two years later, an organization of prominent Nashville women were granted ownership of the plantation in order to preserve it, and open it to the public.

This group, the Ladies Hermitage Association, was modeled after the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, who had successfully taken over George Washington’s home in 1858.

The Ladies Hermitage Association still owns and operates the Hermitage plantation, and manages the local legacy of the nation’s first “log cabin” president.