$132 Million Expansion Will Transform Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage
One of Nashville’s largest tourist attractions has unveiled plans for a $132 million expansion that would add major visitor amenities while restoring historic spaces across the property.
Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage announced that the project will include a 70,000-square-foot visitor and education center, an outdoor amphitheater and a climate-controlled visitor comfort center with seating, restrooms and snacks.
New visitor and education center
The planned visitor and education center will replace the attraction’s existing visitor center, which opened in 1989. According to The Hermitage, the current building does not have enough space for its collection.
The new center is intended to create more room for exhibits, educational programming and visitor services. Renderings show large museum galleries, immersive displays, flexible learning spaces and areas designed to connect the property’s history with its landscape.
“This vision allows us to tell a broader, fuller and more interconnected story of Jackson, the people who lived and worked at The Hermitage and the rapidly changing nation in which they lived,” James Haltom, regent of the board of trustees, said in the release.
The board unanimously approved the vision presented by Chicago-based architecture firm Perkins&Will. The firm was selected after a request for qualifications drew six responses and produced three finalists.
New York-based Gallagher & Associates is working with The Hermitage on the museum and visitor experiences.
Private donations expected to fund most of project
The $132 million investment is expected to be supported primarily by private donations, along with some public funding. Tennessee has designated an initial $6 million for capital improvements.
“As our state’s tourism industry continues to grow and evolve, The Hermitage plays a unique role in broadening that experience, giving visitors another reason to stay longer, explore beyond downtown and connect with the history and culture that have shaped our state,” Tennessee Department of Tourist Development Commissioner Mark Ezell said in the release.
One of Nashville’s largest attractions
The Hermitage was home to Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States. The 1,120-acre property opened to the public in 1889 and welcomes more than 170,000 visitors annually, according to the release.
The attraction ranked No. 7 on the Nashville Business Journal’s 2024 Tourist Attractions List, the most recent year for which it supplied data, with 211,587 paid admissions.
The release did not provide a construction timeline or expected completion date for the full expansion.
Image credit: Renderings courtesy of Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, Perkins & Will and Gallagher & Associates.
