Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage
Nashville, Tennessee
In coordination with the festivities for the bicentennial of the Battle of New Orleans, the decisive end for the British in the War of 1812 in which Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson was catapulted into the national spotlight, the Hermitage has launched its first new exhibit in 25 years.
“It’s very interactive and covers the scope of Jackson’s entire life and why he was who he was,” said Jason Nelson, the Hermitage’s vice president of marketing and sales. “He was a very contradictory figure, and we don’t back away from the slavery and Trail of Tears issues. The exhibit is what I call the movie trailer to going up to the house, giving you a firm grasp on Jackson, why he was the president and how his life played out.”
Group visits begin in the on-site theater with a 20-minute introductory video, though if groups are short on time, the DVD can be provided to watch on the bus before arrival. After seeing the video and new exhibit, visitors proceed to Jackson’s mansion, which is manned with costumed interpreters that bring the period home to life.
“We are the most authentically preserved early presidential home in the country,” said Nelson. “If you’re interested in archaeology, this place really invokes your inner Indiana Jones.”
If time allows, there is a restaurant on site that can seat around 100 or provide box lunches for a walk around and picnic on the working farm, and staff can also organize catered dinners for groups visiting in the evening.
Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum
Atlanta
Completely redesigned in 2009, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum is both a snapshot in time of the Carter presidency and a snapshot of Atlanta today, a growing educational destination harnessing the figures of its past to create a hub of exciting meeting points of cultural activity.
The museum features a mix of permanent and rotating exhibits that create a juxtaposition between Carter’s past work and its impact on the present. In the Oval Office, visitors can get their photograph taken in a perfect replica of Carter’s 1970s workspace, complete with salmon-colored curtains and upholstery.
This fall, the temporary exhibit space at the museum will showcase Carter’s nearly three decades of work on eradicating Guinea worm, a disease that once affected 3.5 million people per year and now infects barely more than 100.
The 90-year-old Carter and his wife can frequently be spotted at the museum, said public affairs director Tony Clark.
“You never know who is going to be walking through,” he said. “Today, the former secretary of welfare was there.”
Visitors can always catch the Carters on video in the numerous multimedia and interactive exhibits throughout the museum, such as the “Day in the Life” exhibit, which follows every moment of a day in the Carter presidency from when the president got out of bed in the morning until when he went back to bed at night.
Guided tours are available on request as there are only a small number of people on staff that can give tours. Staff can prearrange a catered lunch for groups on the 37-acre grounds with Proof in the Pudding, the Carters’ official family caterer.
Monticello
Charlottesville, Virginia
Though it’s more than 200 years old, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello has a lot of new developments to show off to visitors, thanks to a more than decade-long effort to revitalize both Jefferson’s mansion and the site’s educational approach.
In 2009, a new LEED-certified, highly interactive 42,000-square-foot visitors center opened on the lower slope of Monticello Mountain. The new facility gives visiting groups a place to familiarize themselves with Jefferson’s history through an introductory video and four exhibitions on the Jeffersonian ideals epitomized by Monticello before taking the shuttle up the mountain to the house.
A new behind-the-scenes tour shows the upstairs-downstairs dichotomy as it was in Jefferson’s era, with an exclusive visit to the bedrooms occupied by the Jefferson family, which were previously closed to the public, and the basement-level work quarters of domestic slaves who kept the house humming for Jefferson’s busy entertaining schedule.
Brigitte Belanger-Warner, director of sales and marketing for the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau, recommends planning for at least three hours on-site. Allow extra time for specialized tours, such as a botanically focused tour of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants or a custom private tour.
For an interesting counterpoint to a visit to Monticello, Belanger-Warner also recommends visiting the home of President James Monroe, which is just down the road from Monticello.
“The two men were friends,” she said. “Jefferson was a mentor for Monroe, and the home educates people on Monroe’s contributions. It’s a lot more of a subdued house, and the two complement each other.”
