Join the Bobblehead George crew for a tour of the gardens at Andrew Jackson's Hermitage. Andrew Jackson established the gardens at the same time he began construction of the Hermitage mansion in 1819. Roses, irises, and a variety of other plants filled the garden then and still do today. In addition to ornamental plants, the garden contained herbs used for cooking and medicinal purposes.

The garden may have been redesigned several times while the Jackson family lived at the hermitage. In 1988, archeologists noted two brick edged beds -- possibly flower beds -- covered by the new library wing of the mansion when it was enlarged in 1831.

By 1849, Andrew Jackson, Jr. made several improvements to the garden, adding fencing and brick edging around the beds. As Andrew Jackson, Jr’s, financial situation began to decline the gardens declined as well. By the time the Andrew Jackson Foundation was formed in 1889, the beds were in shambles and the shrubs and trees were dead or dying. The organization has devoted a significant amount of effort to rejuvenate the gardens for today’s visitors to the Hermitage.