Dispatches From the Parks: Andrew Johnson National Historic Site
I would guess that most Americans don’t know who Andrew Johnson is and if they did the main thing they know about him is that he was the first President of the United States to be impeached. I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Andrew Johnson National Historic Site last month, and the visit gave me a much greater appreciation for the man. Andrew Johnson National Historic Site is located in historic Greeneville, Tennessee. Greeneville is a rather large city in area, but the historical district is in a tightly contained area giving it a unique feel.
The site has ample parking with a nice picnic area right next to it (which I of course took advantage of). Steps away from the picnic area is a building that gives you a taste of the vast amount of historical artifacts that this park has on display. It’s in this building that Andrew Johnson grew up in, and it's now used to house an exhibit about the history of the United States during the life of Andrew Johnson. It’s a thorough display that just goes to show you how much can change in just one lifetime.
The visitor center is right across the street, and this is where most of the action is at. The visitor center has two, well crafted exhibits. The first is about Johnson’s early adult life where he came to prominence as a beloved tailor. This exhibit includes his actual tailor shop, which makes for the unique experience of being able to see an entire building located within another entire building. The second exhibit is about Johnson’s political career, which contained my favorite part about the visitor center: an interactive display that goes into great detail about Johnson’s impeachment and then allows you to physically vote on whether to convict him. Both of these exhibits give you a sense that this man was a pretty down to Earth guy that ultimately couldn’t impose his vision on Washington DC. He is the only president to come from indentured servitude, and his extremely faithful interpretation of the US Constitution was destined to butt heads with a Republican supermajority in Congress that was trying to push through its own interpretation of Reconstruction.
The park has two other districts: the adult homestead and the Johnson cemetery. I did not visit the homestead as it was closed the day I went (a Saturday in mid-October), but I did drive to the Johnson cemetery, which is located on a hill in the center of Greeneville that gives you a nice view of the surrounding area. Ultimately you can get a lot out of a visit to Andrew Johnson National Historic Site with just an hour so it’s definitely worth your time to check it out.
