The Hermitage Spring Outing Continues a Legacy of Preservation

For 122 years, the Andrew Jackson Foundation, formerly the Ladies’ Hermitage Association, has welcomed guests to lunch on the lawn of the home of the seventh U.S. president, Andrew Jackson. Just minutes from downtown Nashville, guests were transported upon arrival to a quiet and serene landscape to sip Champagne while the air smelled sweetly of fresh-cut grass. The Hermitage Spring Outing is an annual celebration of elegance, hospitality and philanthropy. 2023 Spring Outing Chair Dara Russell continued the tradition of a picnic on the mansion’s main lawn to support and preserve Jackson’s home and retreat. “My family has a legacy of supporting this historic national treasure,” said Dara, “and I could not be more pleased to share the story of The Hermitage with our friends, neighbors and community.”

The keynote presentation was delivered by renowned historian and author Jonathan W. Pliska. Jonathan, specializing as a landscape historian, has done extensive research and work on presidential landscape history. His most recent book, A Garden for the President: A History of the White House Grounds, was published by the White House Historical Association and was the basis for his presentation. Jonathan charmingly walked listeners through a horticultural history of the White House grounds and gardens — as far back as Thomas Jefferson’s introduction of flowering bushes and plants. Jonathan took guests through a virtual tour of various trees and plants on the grounds, and he theorized on the questionable origins of a special tree. Of course, no tour of the presidential gardens would be complete without discussion around the White House’s famous Rose Garden — established in 1913 by First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson, wife of Woodrow Wilson, and renewed in 1963 under the direction of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

A delicious lunch was served by Chef’s Market and included a strawberry fields salad, a five-grain compound salad, and grilled chicken with Southern Jezebel sauce. The afternoon was a spectacular way to honor the grounds and natural landscape.