Proposed Andrew Jackson Memorial

By Historian Louise Pettus

In anticipation of the bicentennial of Andrew Jackson's birth on March 15, 1767, North and South Carolina leaders joined in proposing a national memorial to Jackson.

Andrew Jackson's major achievements were cited as three-fold: 7th president of the United States, founder of the modern Democratic Party and hero of the battle of New Orleans. Carolinians were convinced that Jackson deserved a national monument as much as Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln.

It was thought the cost would be around $20 million and that most of the money would come from the federal government. After all, some argued, there were federally maintained national monuments dedicated to presidents and no law said they had to be built in Washington, D. C. Mount Rushmore was proof of that.

In September 1965 the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce announced that Henderson Belk of the department store Belk family, would donate 1,000 acres of his land that crossed over the state line near Highways 521 in Lancaster county and #75 in Union county, N. C. Henderson Belk, as did other members of the Belk family, owned extensive acreage in the area. Their father, William Henry Belk, had been born between Van Wyck in Lancaster county and the North Carolina line.

Exactly 1/2 of the memorial land would be in N. C. and 1/2 in S. C. There would be entrances on opposite sides of the long rectangle.

Kenneth Whitsett of Charlotte designed the memorial which was anchored by a stone replica of Jackson's Tennessee home, the Hermitage. On the interior there were to me murals representing the high points of Jackson's life.

A reflection pool would surround a statue of Jackson. A log cabin replica would represent his birth in the frontier country of the Waxhaws . In addition, there were to be 8 native pine trees surrounding cabins-one tree for each year as president. Completing the frontier motif, there would be rail fences surround garden patches of cabbage, corn, beans, etc. planted in red clay.

A drawing of the planned memorial was placed on postcards and sent to each U. S. congressman.

Petitions were circulated. The North Carolina petition stated that Jackson was a native of North Carolina but that they supported the proposed shrine straddling the two states.

Some South Carolinians developed their own petition which claimed Jackson as a South Carolina native but was willing to accept the memorial being placed in both states.

But many South Carolinians believed that the park was a concession to North Carolina's claim that they could not accept. Charles E. Lee, director of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History was unalterably opposed. Lee said a joint part jeopardized South Carolina's "well-founded claim."

Other South Carolinians called the proposal an outright surrender and saw the whole thing as a Charlotte scheme to draw tourists to Charlotte to benefit Charlotte's hotels, motels and restaurants.

The effort was made but the 200th birthday of Andrew Jackson came and passed without a memorial being placed. Instead, South Carolina managed to build Andrew Jackson State Park and Union County, N. C. has recently built a museum honoring the man each state claims as its own.