The Hermitage is managed by the Ladies’ Hermitage Association, a nonprofit organization, and receives no ongoing operating dollars from state or federal governments.
The Hermitage fell into great disrepair.
Old picture of the Hermitage
Andrew Jackson bought the child, Betty, and her mother, Old Hannah, in 1794. Old Hannah was the cook, a job Betty later took over. Betty went to Florida with the Jacksons in 1821 where she got into trouble for taking in other people’s laundry, presumably to make extra money. In 1833, Jackson asked his overseer to be sure that Betty did not harshly punish the children who worked for her in the kitchen. By 1850, Andrew Jackson Jr.’s wife Sarah replaced her as cook, but Betty continued to do jobs such as making ‘sugar tree molasses.” In 1867, photograph C.C. Giers came to the Hermitage and took this photo identified as “one of Jackson’s servants and her great-grandchildren.” Historians believe the woman in this photo is Betty. By 1867, Betty’s family would have been the only four-generation former slave family left at The Hermitage. Betty apparently died before 1870, because the U.S. Census from that year does not list her with her family.
