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15 slaves per cabin
15 slaves per cabin

I quickly passed through President Andrew Jackson's The Hermitage plantation in Nashville as a tourist. My interests were focused more on slaves and slave quarters rather than the Jackson mansion.

Park literature said that at its height President Andrew Jackson's plantation, called The Hermitage, had 150 slaves. I asked a guide and he said he thought the grounds once had eight slave cabins. However, I counted from the park map and the walk around the plantation that there were 10 slave cabins. That is 15 slaves per cabin. My guess is that a few select slaves worked and slept in the mansion of the master, probably sleeping near the children whom they likely watched over. That would slightly bring down the density of slaves packed into a slave quarter to say 14.6 slaves per cabin.

Many slaves lived in the slave field quarters, which were located near the cotton fields. Those cabins have long since vanished. I guess that for years the slave field quarters of the President's estate were NOT considered worth preserving while the other buildings were. I hiked out there to see these slave quarters. Only their footprints remain, which are now marked by crushed stones.

In this photo there are a couple of nicely constructed quarters that the house slaves used. These cabins were walled off in half so that each cabin was in essence a duplex. The cabin to the right was the original farmhouse where the Jacksons first lived as they began their family and their plantation. The nearest cabin, the one with two chimneys, was a kitchen for the estate. Slaves also worked, lived and slept there.

I see why these two buildings where slaves lived were preserved.

After the mansion was built, the Jacksons moved into the new manor. Their old farmhouse was converted into a slave quarter.

The mansion can be seen in the background between the two slave cabins.

The head house slave, Alfred, had his perks. For one, he had his own cabin. His home is in a position of power for a slave. It is nearest the Jackson family's mansion. Part of Alfred's cabin can be seen in the background of this photo near the main estate between these two slave quarters in the foreground.

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Taken on: June 16, 2018
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson Everybody's photos tagged with Nashville Nashville Everybody's photos tagged with POTUS 7 POTUS 7 more » Everybody's photos tagged with President of the United States President of the United States Everybody's photos tagged with Tennessee Tennessee Everybody's photos tagged with The Hermitage The Hermitage Everybody's photos tagged with cotton plantation cotton plantation Everybody's photos tagged with slave ownership slave ownership Everybody's photos tagged with slave quarters slave quarters Everybody's photos tagged with slavery slavery Everybody's photos tagged with antebellum antebellum Everybody's photos tagged with National Historic Landmark National Historic Landmark Everybody's photos tagged with The People's President The People's President « less
Sets appears in:   • The mystery of history   
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Camera: Nikon D850, f/7.1, 1/200 sec, 48mm, ISO 64 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Nikon D850
Lens: 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/7.1
Exposure Time: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Focal Length: 48mm
ISO: 64
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash
Exposure Program: Program AE
Exposure Mode: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Saturation: High
Sharpness: Hard
Color Space: sRGB
Software: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 7.4 (Macintosh)
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15 slaves per cabin

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