An old agricultural report from the 1930s had given them an idea: It mentioned an area that was not cultivated because it contained tall trees and graves. They also suspected the cemetery would be near the center of the 1000-acre (405-hectare) plantation, and on land of low agricultural value. Late last year, with the help of an anonymous donor who was interested in the project, they cleared trees and brought in archaeologist James Greene.
Physically walking the property to search for depressions and gravestones yielded a possible site. Ground-penetrating radar and a careful partial excavation that did not disturb any remains confirmed it: At least 28 people, likely more, were buried near a creek, about 1000 feet (305 meters) northwest of the mansion.
Finding the cemetery after all this time was exciting but also solemn for Tony Guzzi, chief of preservation and site operations.
“For me, this is going to be a reflective space. A contemplative space," he said.
Jackson was one of a dozen early U.S. presidents who owned slaves, and identifying their graves has been a priority at other presidential sites as well as historians seek to tell a more inclusive story about the people — enslaved and free — who built the young nation.
Richard Blackett, Andrew Jackson professor of history emeritus at Vanderbilt University, said that when he first came to Nashville 22 years ago, the film shown to visitors at The Hermitage did not even mention the enslaved people who had lived there.
“More recently, people have developed a keen interest in trying to understand the nature of enslavement, and the people who experienced it, and the people who imposed it," he said. "And that has created a need to find out more about the people who were at the bottom of the totem pole, but the people who did all the work.”
But some other historic homes have done more, more quickly. Even two decades ago, it was known that there was a burial site at The Hermitage, along with the general location, he said.
“Monticello, Jefferson’s plantation, Washington’s plantation, a bunch of the other early presidents’ plantations have all been way ahead of the curve in trying to locate the burial sites of of the former enslaved, as well as to recreate a sense of what it was like to live on the plantations," Blackett said.
Today The Hermitage historic site includes some of the cabins where enslaved people lived. The museum also has information gleaned from excavations and research on some of the people who were enslaved by the Jackson family.
The cemetery feels more personal.
“The existing cabins are a museum space, but it can be hard to get a sense of what slavery was like,” Guzzi said. “This is a tangible connection that makes it more real for people.”
The bodies are buried with their heads to the west in three north-south rows, but nearly all of their gravestones have sunk below the surface. Only two small wedges are visible, poking up through the ground at adjacent graves. All of the graves likely have stone markers at both the heads and feet, although they are not likely carved with names, Greene said.
And while ground-penetrating radar confirmed the presence of 28 bodies, there are likely more — including smaller graves of children or infants. A thick mat of tree roots made it difficult to confirm what's below, he said.
Starting next week, The Hermitage will begin including the cemetery in a free tour. It is surrounded by a high fence and visitors won't be allowed inside for now. Officials are still deciding on the next steps, starting with a more inclusive process.
“Going forward, our belief is that we need to have other voices help us consider what is appropriate in terms of memorialization or commemoration and anything like that,” said Jason Zajac, president and CEO of the Andrew Jackson Foundation. An advisory committee will include historians along with descendants of some of the enslaved people who lived at The Hermitage.
The site already has a memorial where 60 enslaved people from a nearby plantation have been reburied near the Hermitage church. Their bodies were discovered in 2006 during a development project on land formerly owned by relatives of Jackson's wife Rachel, Guzzi said. There were men, women and children between the ages of about 1 and 45.
Artist Aaron Lee Benson used the North Star as inspiration for the memorial, which features seven oak trees in the shape of the Little Dipper, symbolizing the navigation of the enslaved to freedom in the North.
Jackson brought nine enslaved people with him when he bought the property where he would build The Hermitage, and he owned about 150 people at the time of his death, Guzzi said. They worked the fields, cared for the mansion and its residents and plied skilled trades like blacksmithing and carpentry.
“Besides the Jacksons, there was a large community of enslaved people here,” Guzzi said. “You can’t tell the story of the Hermitage without telling their story.”
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