LANCASTER, S.C. – There are not many bigger names in the Democratic Party than Andrew Jackson.
For the presidential history buffs among delegates and visitors to the Democratic National Convention in nearby Charlotte, Jackson’s birthplace has been a must-visit side trip.
The only problem is, the precise location of the birthplace of the nation’s seventh president has been a matter of dispute since Jackson’s time. Both South Carolina and North Carolina claim him.
The controversy stems from the shifting borders of the two states and some differing oral histories in the Jackson family.
Jackson himself said in 1824 that “I was born in South Carolina, as I have been told, at the plantation whereon James Crawford lived about one mile from the Carolina Road crossing of the Waxhaw Creek.”
And that is roughly where South Carolina’s tribute to Jackson is located, on wooded rolling land called Andrew Jackson State Park.
No birthplace building, original or replica, was attempted because there are no accurate accounts of its appearance or precise location.
But the park has a stone marker laying claim to Jackson. (That is the first stone marker in the photos.)
The park also features a schoolhouse and a Presbyterian meeting house like those Jackson would have attended.
The state also has a small museum with exhibits on frontier life in the Waxhaw country, the Jackson family’s difficult experience there and the Revolutionary War that profoundly shaped the life of the future general and chief executive. Among the artifacts on exhibit are swords found on the property as late as the 20th century.
Dominating the site is an impressive statue of young Jackson riding a farm horse bareback. “The Boy of the Waxhaws” was sculpted by Anna Hyatt Huntington.
Visitors can soak up Andrew Jackson country on the park trails or stay longer by camping next to a small lake. This time of year, based upon my brief stroll in the woods, mosquito repellant would be an absolutely necessary survival tool.
Now, very close by, in North Carolina, down at the end of a country road, there is another, simple stone marker (that is the second one shown in these photos). Speaking of borders, there is no sign showing where the state border is on the three-minute drive from Andrew Jackson State Park in South Carolina to the North Carolina marker.
Above the carved depiction of a log cabin are these words: “Here was born March 15, 1767. Andrew Jackson Seventh President of the United States.”
A former U.S. senator, member of the U.S. House, and military governor of Florida, 
Jackson was celebrated as a general in the War of 1812.
In 1824, he lost his first bid for the presidency in a four-way battle that included Treasury Secretary William Crawford, House Speaker Henry Clay of Kentucky and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. The election was so close the House of Representatives had to decide it, and the lawmakers chose Adams.
In 1828, Jackson and a new coalition called the Democratic Party defeated Adams to become the seventh president. Four years later, Jackson won re-election over Clay, candidate of the National Republican Party, and William Wirt, the Anti-Masonic Party’s candidate.
The story of Old Hickory’s rich and sometimes stormy life and equally tumultuous presidency fills many books. I highly recommend Robert Remini’s multi-volume work on “Old Hickory.”
For additional insight into Jackson and how he lived, visit his home, The Hermitage, in Nashville, Tenn. Jackson died there on June 8, 1845, and is buried on the property.
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