We left Doug and Jennie’s and arrived at The Hermitage around the time it opened. We were glad we did this because they were expecting large crowds due to the solar eclipse. One of the rangers mentioned the previous day they had 1,500 visitors; whereas, an average day for them only has about 300 visitors. They expected 6,000-10,000 people to come the next day to watch the eclipse. Per their suggestion, we headed straight to the house for a tour before it got too busy. 

We then toured the grounds and garden while listening to the audio guide. We got to see where the cotton fields and orchards were located. They pointed out how the grounds look much different today than they would’ve when it was a working farm. They had planted a small field of cotton for show where Myles picked some cotton. We also walked through Rachel Jackson’s garden which contained many different types of plants and flowers. It contained a graveyard where Andrew and Rachel Jackson are buried along with other family members. Rachel passed away before Andrew so he chose to bury her in her favorite place – the garden.

Andrew and Rachel Jackson Burial Site

On our way back to the visitor center, we came across a show of how dueling would’ve worked back in Andrew Jackson’s time. It was interesting to learn how much different it was than the way that Hollywood portrays it.

We were happy to make it back to the visitor center as the day was getting hot and the place was getting very crowded. We watched a 20 minute film about Andrew Jackson which was very informative.

By the time we were leaving, the lines were incredibly long and the visitor center was shoulder-to-shoulder packed with people.

It was then off to Franklin, Ky for us to meet up with Terry and Tacy to watch the eclipse the next day. We ate at a Mexican restaurant once we got there and managed to get early check in for the hotel. We took a nap while waiting for Terry and Tacy (who were stuck in traffic) to arrive. After they arrived, we struggled to find a place to eat dinner. We drove around town trying to find something. We did manage to swing by a Wal-Mart and pick up some chairs to sit in the next day. We finally settled on the nearby restaurant that had mediocre reviews. The food there was definitely mediocre as well.

End Day 6.