Roll into Old Hickory and you'd swear the name is about timber or some old industrial trade. And the industry is real: in nineteen eighteen, DuPont threw up the biggest smokeless-gunpowder plant in the world right here on Hadley's Bend to feed the guns of World War One. Tens of thousands of workers, half a million pounds of powder a day. But the name has nothing to do with hickory wood or the plant. DuPont named the town for Andrew Jackson, the seventh president, whose tough battlefield reputation earned him the nickname 'Old Hickory.' His Hermitage estate sits just up the road. The powder boomtown is named after a man, not a material.
15.3 mi away
The Duel: Andrew Jackson Takes a Bullet to Buy His Aim, 1806 RoadyGoat
1806
The marker on the Adairville square points two miles west, to the Red River bottoms on the old Jeff Burr farm, where on May 30, 1806, Andrew Jackson shot and killed Charles Dickinson. Both men were Tennesseans; they crossed the state line not because dueling was legal in Kentucky (it was illegal here too) but to put themselves out of reach of Tennessee's authorities. The quarrel began over a forfeited horse-race wager between Jackson's stallion Truxton and Ploughboy, owned by Dickinson's father-in-law, and curdled in the newspapers until Dickinson printed that Jackson was "a worthless scoundrel, a poltroon, and a coward." (Dickinson had also, while drunk, insulted Jackson's wife Rachel, and apologized; Jackson had let that go.) Dickinson was the finest pistol shot in Tennessee, so Jackson and his second, Thomas Overton, made a cold decision: let Dickinson fire first, absorb it, then aim at leisure. Dickinson fired. Dust puffed from Jackson's coat. Jackson did not fall; he put a hand to his chest and stood. Dickinson recoiled from his mark, crying "Great God! Have I missed him?", and Overton forced him back to stand and take his return fire. Jackson pulled the trigger and the pistol stopped at half-cock. He drew the hammer back, aimed again, and fired; Dickinson bled to death by dusk. Jackson's biographer James Parton wrote that Dickinson's "aim had been perfect. He had sent the ball precisely where he supposed Jackson's heart was beating. But the thinness of his body and the looseness of his coat combining to deceive Dickinson, the ball had only broken a rib or two." Whether Jackson had the RIGHT to re-cock was argued bitterly and never settled: a "snap" normally counted as your shot, but Jackson's hammer never fell at all. His seconds certified the duel fair; Dickinson's father-in-law published that Jackson had taken an "unguarded, illiberal and unjust advantage." Jackson walked off concealing the wound so Dickinson would die believing he had missed, and only later did his surgeon notice a shoe full of blood. The ball lodged too near his heart to cut out, and he carried it for the remaining thirty-nine years of his life. (Sources: Kentucky Historical Marker #100; Library of Congress; Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, 1859.)
Old Hickory's Cussing Parrot Crashed His Funeral RoadyGoat
1845
Andrew Jackson died at the Hermitage, his home outside Nashville, Tennessee, on June eighth, eighteen forty-five. Two days later, on June tenth, his funeral was held at the house, with mourners crowded onto the porch and out across the lawn. And by the most famous account of that day, the solemn service was nearly stolen by a parrot. Jackson had bought a grey parrot named Poll for his wife Rachel back in eighteen twenty-seven, paying twenty-five dollars for it. After Rachel died, the old president doted on the bird for the rest of his life, and somewhere along the way Poll had picked up language that did not belong at a funeral. As the crowd gathered, the parrot got worked up and let loose what one witness called perfect gusts of cuss words, swearing so loud and so long that the bird had to be carried out of the house. The tale comes from William Norment, who was a teenager at the funeral and did not set it down on paper until he was in his nineties, so historians treat it as a beloved but unverified legend. True or not, it is a fitting send-off for the most pugnacious president the country ever had.
18.0 mi away
Grand Ole Opry House
1925
The longest-running radio broadcast in American history, airing continuously since 1925, now based at the Opry House in the Opryland complex.
18.4 mi away
The Hermitage - Andrew Jackson Home
1804
The plantation home of Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States, who lived here from 1804 until his death in 1845.
This unassuming farmhouse whispers tales of medicine, family, and a complicated past rooted in pre-Civil War Tennessee. Built around 1855, this is the Walton–Wiggins Farm. Dr. Lycurgus B. Walton, a physician, built this…
You're near the old House of Cash at 700 Johnny Cash Parkway in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Johnny Cash opened it in 1970 (adapting the 1960 Plantation Dinner Theatre building) as his museum, the headquarters of House of…
This isn't just another pretty farm; Ashcrest holds the echoes of a nation wrestling with slavery and its aftermath. Built before the Civil War, Ashcrest Farm stands as a testament to the antebellum South. The Classical…
Pull over for a second – this Greek Revival mansion witnessed the Civil War firsthand. Built in 1855 for Abner T. Shaw, it was a beautiful home in a soon-to-be divided nation. During the Civil War, Union troops marched…
Old Hickory: It's Not About the Wood · 15.3 mi
Roll into Old Hickory and you'd swear the name is about timber or some old industrial trade. And the industry is real: in nineteen eighteen, DuPont threw up the biggest smokeless-gunpowder plant in the world right here…
This hallowed ground serves as the final resting place for tens of thousands of American heroes. Established in 1866, Nashville National Cemetery was created to provide a permanent burial site for Union soldiers who…
The marker on the Adairville square points two miles west, to the Red River bottoms on the old Jeff Burr farm, where on May 30, 1806, Andrew Jackson shot and killed Charles Dickinson. Both men were Tennesseans; they…
Ever wonder where “Old Hickory” hung his hat? You’re approaching The Hermitage, the home and final resting place of President Andrew Jackson. Jackson purchased the land in 1804 and gradually built the mansion you see…
Imagine a Revolutionary War hero building a grand home on the Tennessee frontier. That's Cragfont. General James Winchester, a veteran of the Revolution, built Cragfont starting around 1798. He was a prominent figure in…
Old Hickory's Cussing Parrot Crashed His Funeral · 18.0 mi
Andrew Jackson died at the Hermitage, his home outside Nashville, Tennessee, on June eighth, eighteen forty-five. Two days later, on June tenth, his funeral was held at the house, with mourners crowded onto the porch…
The Hermitage - Andrew Jackson Home · 18.0 mi · Historical Marker
The plantation home of Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States, who lived here from 1804 until his death in 1845.
Imagine life in early Nashville at the Frederick Stump Tavern-Inn, built by one of the city's first settlers. Colonel Frederick Stump arrived here in 1779 as part of the first group of white settlers at Fort Nashboro.…
Imagine life on the edge of the frontier at this fortified settlement, a refuge from Native American attacks. Bledsoe's Station, or Bledsoe's Fort, was built by Isaac Bledsoe in the early 1780s. It served as a vital…
Stand here and you’re looking at a piece of Nashville history, a reminder of the city's early wealth and power. This is the Alexander Ewing House, built in 1821. Alexander Ewing was a prominent lawyer and businessman in…
You're approaching a piece of Tennessee history: St. Michael's Catholic Church, the oldest Catholic church in the state that’s been continuously operating. In 1842, a community of Catholic families, many of them Irish…
Imagine a Revolutionary War veteran, settling down after years of fighting for independence. That's exactly what happened here at Locust Grove. Francis Weathered, a Baptist preacher and veteran, built this house in…
Right here, near the Red River Meeting House, you're standing at the epicenter of a spiritual earthquake that shook the young nation. In 1800, Reverend James McGready organized a multi-day religious meeting. Preachers…
