Farm Buildings

Hermitage Farm Buildings

Historical documents establish that Andrew Jackson had an operating cotton gin and press built by 1807.

Research indicated the remnants of those farm buildings were located in one of the cotton fields just beyond the First Hermitage. In the summer of 2001, archaeologists searched for foundations of the cotton gin house and press.

The above image shows the cotton gin house and press being excavated by Hermitage archaeologists.

Hermitage archaeologists tested this field and found a raised area of ground with heavy concentrations of brick and limestone. Excavations uncovered evidence of post-holes from the side corners of a large log building that is believed to be the cotton gin house. This building contained the ginning machinery and storage rooms for cotton.

Jackson’s cotton press, used for baling the cotton, was also discovered just 90 feet from the gin house. The pit press was a nine-foot deep pit lined on the bottom with brick and limestone and had two parallel limestone walls on either side that formed a box-like structure. The ginned cotton was dropped into a framed box that was in the bottom of the pit and an eleven-foot screw turned by a horse-powered treadmill pressed the cotton into bales weighing 500 pounds each.