Rock Castle State Historic Site, located in Hendersonville, Sumner County, Tennessee, is the former home of Daniel Smith.

Daniel Smith served as a captain in Lord Dunmore's War, a colonel in the American Revolution, and a Brigadier General of the militia in the Metro District.

[1] He was baptized in Elbo Warren Baptist Church October 24, which was five days before his twin sister, Sarah, died.

In these records, Jefferson praises Smith "For intelligence, well-cultivated talents, integrity, and usefulness, in soundness of judgment in the practice of virtue and in shunning violence unequaled by few men, and in the purity of excelled by none.

[7] In 1783 Major Smith moved to the area that would become Tennessee with his wife and two young children to take up land that was given to him by the State of Virginia for his services in the Revolutionary War.

The Smith family lived in this for only a short time before the local American Indians burned it down in one of many isolated raids.

Jackson's original log cabin was a two-story structure in Hunter's Hill, down the river from Smith's home.

After the allotted time had passed, William bought a tract of land from Major John Henry and built a permanent family home.

Eventually, William decided to open a proper tavern in his home to accommodate his frequent guests.

This is how she met Dr. Thomas Walker, who ended up introducing Sarah to Daniel and is credited with setting up their romantic relationship.

"[14] Sarah's social life was impacted greatly when she moved to isolated Sumner county, but she quickly found friendship with Rachel Jackson.

Rachel was not an outgoing person to begin with, but after the scandal surrounding her marriage to two men at once broke, she became a complete recluse.

George's son, who was a surveyor and a soldier like his grandfather, would end up having to bail his father out of debt to maintain the house.

She was raised almost entirely on the frontier of the United States, having been born in 1781 and having moved to nearly unsettled land in 1783 at the age of two.

At the age of fifteen, her father decided to send her to a boarding school in Philadelphia where she would be expected to become a proper young woman in the eyes of the Smith's society.

They rode over to the Smith's home, where Jackson assisted Polly down a ladder placed against her bedroom window.

A woman named Easter, who worked in the house as a maid or nanny, lived in a loft above the dining room with her husband Alfred.

A newspaper from 1910 also tells the story of an unnamed enslaved man who worked as a foreman on the farm being abducted from the site by Native Americans and taken east.

When Smith was a Senator, the enslaved man contacted him to plead for a bounty so that he could be set free from his most recent captivity.

Smith offered $900 to the Native people who abducted the unnamed enslaved man, and was transferred from the abductors to the plantation landscape of Rock Castle.

[17] There are two letters of bill of sale that name the following slaves being sold from George Smith to Harry Smith in 1833: Isaac, Martin, Charles, Cheshire, Larkin, Ina, Toby, Wilson, David, Henry, Sarah, Rachel, Judy (or Juda), Baty, Mitchel, Daniel, Jeffrey, Patricia, and Patricia's two children, Henrietta and Silva (or Silvia).

[18] In 1788, Daniel Smith (surveyor) acquired 4,722 acres (1,911 ha) of land in Sumner County, Tennessee along the Cumberland River and Drake's Creek.

The stone construction inspired the myth that the house was a fireproof "castle" and that the rock protected the family from fires caused by cooking and set by Native Americans defending their right to the land.

The Greek revival facade with columns and porch may have been added by George Smith or his son Harry.

[citation needed][23] As with any historic Middle Tennessee house of this era, construction items could be made on site, purchased from a local merchant, or ordered from exporters located farther east.

Window glass could be shipped in cases, as were hinges, English locks, and barrels of cut nails.

Enslaved workers with masonry skill mixed cement mortar from lime and sand binding the wall stones together in a "length-wise and width-wise alternately… Flemish bond pattern.

Since Daniel Smith had training in the medical field, his gardens may have produced plants used for medicine including rosemary and mint, which helps in digestion and depression.

The Tennessee Historical Commission provides a partial annual operating grant to the site and is responsible for major maintenance at the property.

The Friends of Rock Castle was formed in 1969 when the mansion and grounds were sold to the state from a Smith descendant.