The Triplex

The Triplex. Reclaiming the Past. Rarely do facts alone uncover the past. Scholarship, judgment, and analysis all have roles in interpreting evidence, and hints, of long-ago lives. So it is with these stones marking the location of a building that Hermitage archaeologists have named the Triplex. Likely built in the1820s or 1830s during construction of the mansion, its limestone foundation and brick walls echo those of Jackson’s home. Along with its location and division of space, uncovered artifacts suggest that the Triplex was the living and work space for many of the enslaved who worked in and around the mansion, serving the Jackson’s and their guests., Although artifacts rarely tell personal stories, Hermitage archaeologist believes that the numerous sewing items recovered in the middle room belonged to Gracy Bradley. Andrew Jackson purchased Gracy and her family in Washington, D.C. during his presidency to be a skilled seamstress and personal servant to Jackson’s daughter-in-law Sarah Yorke Jackson. At The Hermitage, Gracy married Alfred, who took the name Jackson after emancipation. For reasons we may never know, Gracy chose the surname of Bradley and passed it on to her children. The story of The Hermitage is as much a Bradley story as it is a Jackson story.