THE LOCAL BECKWITH INN

It was Andrew Jackson’s home away from home.

Located halfway between Knoxville, TN and Smithville, TN, The Beckwith Inn was located three miles west of Smithville on a newly constructed turnpike, which improved all available travel. It was one of the state’s first highways.

Local businessman, Robert Robinson, said the Inn was located on property adjacent to the current locales of Kilgore’s Restaurant and Foutch Eye Care on Smithville’s Old Nashville Highway.

According to the late DeKalb County Historian, Thomas Grey Webb, Rachel and James Beckwith of Smithville took over the management of a boarding house, later upgrading and converting it into The Beckwith Inn.

In 1843, they saw another business opportunity for the Inn when the local turnpike (highway) had just been completed, Webb wrote. The Beckwith’s bought the property three miles west of Smithville known as Cannady’s old stand, where in 1816, James Cannady built a tavern (Beckwith Inn). Today, there are no photographs, no newspaper articles, no historical fact sheets, no narratives, etc. concerning the Inn; only the brief inscription on the memorial stone placed on the once-occupied deserted land.

“The tavern stood as a stopping-place for Andrew Jackson, post-presidency, when he traveled from the Hermitage to Knoxville and other places. Jackson worked and studied while traveling from his spectacular Hermitage home to Knoxville while carrying on his law practice. During that time, there were no schools. Therefore, Jackson and others were self-taught in the education of law and other educational services). Another self-taught educational President was Abraham Lincoln.

James Cannady and Andrew Jackson may have quite a bit in common, as their father’s were poor Protestants who emigrated from Northern Ireland to South Carolina in the 1760’s. Cannady’s travels were a congenial place for Andrew Jackson, and he was a frequent guest there, especially after his presidency, which ended in 1837.

“After the Beckwith’s bought the land and building, they left part of a large structure and added a new large weatherboarded section. The inside walls were plastered, the front porch was 90 feet long, and the dining room could seat 60 people. The guest rooms were nicely furnished with walnut and cherry furniture (the most expensive), and books were in every room,” quoted tngenweb.com. Owner Rachell Beckwith is said to have cooked all the Inn’s meals, three times daily.

“Andrew Jackson was now out-of-office (President) and in failing health. So he did not stop at the Inn as much as he did previously. The main business came from persons traveling from Nashville to Bon Air, TN. on the Cumberland Plateau,” wrote Webb.

Other historical DeKalb County proprieties included: Daniel Alexander’s home in Alexandria, which served as a tavern in 1802; the Duncan Tavern in Liberty was built early enough to have Andrew Jackson as a guest frequently. The Browning Tavern and the Reese Tavern were operated in Alexandria before the Civil War, circa 1861-1865. Luke McDowell and Thomas Bradford kept Inns at the top of Snow’s Hill. In 1850, the Masonic Lodge built a two-story frame hotel of 15 rooms which stood for almost a century where the City Hall now stands on the east side of the Court Square in Smithville. Hotels remained in demand for many years; as late as 1940 when Edgar Evins built a two-story, 20-room hotel in Smithville, which is now used as the Sha-Lee Apartments. The name Sha-Lee are the name abbreviations for the late businessman Glen Nichols, Sr. His two adult children are Lula Sharon Nichols Beaty and Glen Lee Nichols, Jr.

Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767 and died on June 8, 1845. He, too, was a frequent guest of the Old Duncan Tavern in Liberty, TN. Will T. Hale said in his “History of DeKalb County”, “One time, Jackson purchased some negroes and was bringing them to Tennessee. While here, a young slave died. It was between 1834-1839, I (Hale) made the negro’s coffin. Of the Duncan’s who left Liberty, I believe the one to become best known is Cicero.” Many local citizens have questioned the burial site and other events and characteristics surrounding the young, deceased slaves’ life and death.

James and Rachel Roulston Beckwith operated the Inn from 1834 until the late 1870’s. President Andrew Jackson, during his later life, was among its most notable guests. His favorite alcoholic drink was whiskey. Again, the remaining portion of the Inn was destroyed by fire in 1967, when I was in the 8th grade at College Street School, downtown Smithville. The Beckwith Inn building stood in Smithville, TN for more than 133 years.

Jackson’s most famous quote reads, “Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes is right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.”

As an imperative and important preface, the former President was age 78 when he died of tuberculosis, heart failure and dropsy (swelling “edema” due to congestive heart failure) in 1845. At the Hermitage, he was buried in the same tomb as his wife, Rachel Donaldson Jackson, who died of a heart attack in 1828, 17 years before her husband’s death. The incorporated town of Donaldson, TN was named after Rachel’s family. Hermitage, TN was named after the Jackson’s home, The Hermitage.

Surrounded by friends and family on his deathbed at the Hermitage, Jackson’s last words were: “Oh, do not cry. Be good children and we will all meet in heaven.”

Jackson died that evening.

He and Rachel had no birth children.

The trips to The Beckwith Inn were over.

THE HERMITAGE

4580 Rachels Lane

Hermitage, TN 37076

Walking tours available daily.

Hours: 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. - DAILY

ACRES: 1,120

JACKSON’S 256th BIRTHDAY: Wednesday. March 15, 2023

FOUNDED: 1835

ARCHITECTURE: Greek Revival