AT THE HERMITAGE
Being country music fans, my parents and I had decided to take a spring road trip from Wisconsin to Nashville, Tennessee. It was a nice break from work and after a long winter, the warmer weather was most appreciated. As we made our way south through the Smokey Mountains, the dogwood trees along the interstate were all in-bloom. We'd stopped to tour Mammoth Cave and then planned to visit The Grand Old Opry, Opryland Amusement Park (now defunct), and to take a cruise down the Cumberland River on the General Jackson Showboat.
On one morning at our Nashville hotel, we'd awoken to some unexpected rainy weather and were looking for something to do before the forecasted sunshine had arrived. In a hotel lobby display rack, I came across a brochure for a place called "The Hermitage". The strange name of this attraction had caught my eye and looking-over the brochure I discovered "The Hermitage" to be the name that President Andrew Jackson had given to his cotton plantation located just east of Nashville. Now a National Historic Landmark, The Hermitage is where "Old Hickory" had lived throughout most of his adult life and until his death in 1845. It appeared to be fairly close to the city and possibly an interesting place to ride-out the rain.
I don't recall a lot of details about the guided mansion tour itself other than how surprised I was at seeing how small all of the beds were and of learning how much shorter people were back then. I found it somewhat unsettling to think of our revered forefathers as all being dwarf-like, but then remembered that Abraham Lincoln was 6'4" tall. George Washington was 6'2" at the height of his -well, at the height of his height! Ben Franklin had almost hit 6 foot tall. Did these people have longer beds than everyone else, or did taller people in those days simply get shorted on the foot-end of beds? I guess the mystery prevails!
After completing the guided tour of the mansion itself, we exited a rear door to explore the grounds. Strolling down to a path that led to the gardens, we were greeted by sunshine as the rain had subsided. As we walked on the path, I was surveying the various farm buildings and thinking about all of the work and activity that must have been going-on back in the time Old Hickory. Looking over to my left, I saw a long rectangular hewn-log building where a young black woman leaning peacefully against one of its longer sides. Wearing a full-length off-white dress and apron, she appeared to be taking a rest from her work. What I immediately noticed was that there was something about her that seemed almost photographically serene and beautiful. Though the clothing she wore was simple and old fashioned, she seemed poised, elegant and somehow almost angelic. In her arms she held a very large basket that was shaped like an Asian wok. The shallow basket looked to be a few feet in diameter, and I thought how impractical it's rounded bottom would be in that the basket would wobble when set on a table. Her basket held several bundles of straw-like cuttings; each wrapped with a band of cloth. This also struck me as a strange thing to do; why would anyone bother bundling straw, wheat, or anything other grass product?
Aside from these details, I was mostly struck by the young woman's graceful look and pose as she rested against the side of the building in the warm sunshine. I assumed she was playing the role of a slave woman and waiting for tourists to visit her building upon which time she would present her talk on what it was like to have lived and worked as a slave at The Hermitage. I nudged my mother walking beside me planning to point-out the young woman and my expectation of roll-playing characters on the mansion grounds when, still looking at the beautiful young woman, she suddenly vanished! In the blink-of-an-eye she was gone!
My first thought was that the young woman must have stepped back and into a doorway that I hadn't noticed, but how could she have possibly moved so quickly? As I stepped off the path and began visually searching the side of the building for a doorway, or any opening at all! My mother laughed a bit at my unusual behavior and asked what I was doing. I just felt confused and told her of the young woman who had been leaning against the building.
Next, I spotted what appeared to be an employee wearing a tan colored ranger-like uniform standing up the path nearer the gardens. I went ahead of my parents and asked the employee if The Hermitage had personnel dressed in period clothing playing the role of plantation workers from the 1800s. She was familiar with the practice but informed me that The Hermitage had no such personnel. Perhaps looking confused, the uniformed staffer then asked the reason for my question. I described what I had seen. She then chucked knowingly and quipped, "Oh yes- that happens here a lot!" I didn't understand her comment (as I hadn't yet made the connection to a possible spirit apparition) and asked, "...what happens here a lot?" She informed me that The Hermitage was considered one of the most haunted historical sites in the United States and then asked me if we had been over to tour the log building where I had seen the young woman. My first thought was that the building itself hadn't looked particularly interesting to me, but simply responded that we had not. She then informed me that the building had been the slave quarters for President Jackson's many slaves.
We went on to walk the gardens, visit President Jackson's tomb and walk the outbuildings including the slave quarters, but I saw no other apparitions. Strangely, as I look back on the experience, I seem to have simply moved on that day -never giving the entire experience much after-thought.
Years later, while assisting a friend with his thesis paper at a Wisconsin university library, I ran across a book that was titled something like "America's Most Haunted Places." Glancing through the table of contents, I quickly noticed that The Hermitage was listed among the haunted sites. Also, many years later, curious about the large wok-shaped basket and bundled straw cuttings, I discovered that both were common to the time period. The large wok-shaped baskets were designed to toss and then catch harvested seeds (such as wild rice and barley) into the wind. The practice allowed the chaff (thin dried outer skin) of the seeds to be blown off before being used for food. The bundled straw-like stems that I had seen in the basket were cut and bundled by size during the busy harvest season. Later, when the slower winter months provided time, the bundled stems could then be pulled from storage and made into baskets and brooms.
Considering that it is completely possible for anyone to experience realistic hallucinations, I particularly liked the detail of the unusual basket and bundles. If I were hallucinating, and it should be noted that I seldom use alcohol or any drugs, how could my mind fabricate something so specific and of which I had no prior knowledge? Also, on that day at The Hermitage, I had not been particularly engrossed in, or even all that impressed with the tour of the mansion itself or the experience overall. Simply put, I found the tour mildly interesting, and I appreciated its historical value but had not been deep in-thought about slavery, or any other aspect of the experience that would have precipitated delusional visions.
To this day, what I remember most vividly and am still most impressed by when recalling the experience, is just how palpable the serenity and peacefulness of the young slave woman had been. She seemed so angelic leaning against the side of that building as the rain had given way to sunshine by the gardens. My emotional sense is that this young woman, after what most likely would have been a very difficult life, seemed to have found an incredible peace in her afterlife. I came away with some certainty that a physical body must have an equally whole though fainter spirit body that transcends physical death. In fact, the word "afterlife" strikes me as a misnomer in that we likely undergo a seamless transition into the spirit version of ourselves. As a crude example, water can exist as a liquid, solid as ice, as a fog or steam vapor, or as an invisible molecule in the air we breathe. Just because we can't see it does not mean that it is gone!
THE ANGEL THAT APPEARED TO ME
(Not recorded as a song to-date)
Turned a rainy day in Tennessee
Where it was Nashville, we'd come ta-see
But the skies had given-up their blue
So what's a bummed traveler ta-do?
What's a bummed traveler ta-do?
Saw a brochure by the hotel desk
Bout where Ol-Hickory's laid ta-rest
At the Hermitage jist-east-a-town
N-so east we were a-travel-bound
So east we were all travel bound
We toured Jackson's plantation mansion
The courtyard out back quite expansive
Where in a spot peaceful and shady
Stood the most lovely brown young lady
So serene was that young lady
She wore a dress and apron of-old
In-arm a shallow basket ta- hold
Staring at her -lovely as could be
In a wink she disappeared on me!
This woman up-n vanished on me
Spottin' a guide -I told what I'd seen
Of what seemed a super-nat'ral bein'
Not at-all surprised she said ta-me
You're not the first one that's come ta-see
This place's haunted history
Where she'd been standin I later found
Were the slave quarters way back round
When cotton was king at the mansion
Picked by slaves of President Jackson
All the slaves of President Jackson
So if yer skies cloud in Tennessee
Dampen plans on what ya-hoped ta-be
Perhaps go out n-see Ol-Hickory
N-the angel that appeared ta-me
N-the lovely angel -that appeared to me
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