I remember that a pistol was found in a excavation of an old outhouse at the Hermitage but I couldn't find a link to it. Probably a pocket pistol and not a dueling pistol though. One must be careful when pulling ones pants up in the outhouse. I wonder what the President said when that happened.
I visited the Hermitage in I think it was 1984. They showed each tour a flintlock belt pistol that was found in the rafters of I think it was the separate kitchen when we went through there? The Tour Guide reached up, as the rafters were only just over 6 feet and I was crouching the entire time we were in there, and pulled it down to show us. Our tour guide informed us that was where it had been found where it had lain for well over a century and a half they guessed..
It was definitely not a dueling pistol, but a rather plain belt pistol. .The wood was dried out with not much finish and I think it had a plain brass butt cap without the earlier stems going up the grip, though that may not be right as she showed it so quickly and then put it back and that was more than a quarter of a century ago.. She did not turn the barrel towards us, so I don’t know if it was rifled or not. I almost begged to look at it, but she said their policy was that no guest was allowed to examine it, even though she used her bare hands to handle it as did the other tour guides. I’m really sorry I could not examine it closely and we only got to see it for not even a minute before she put it back. .
The thing I remember the most about the Hermitage was the bed with the four HUMONGOUS posters that looked like they had been cut from the trunks of mature walnut trees and barely turned down at all. That and the doors and so many of the interior woodwork that was artificially “grained” by a Frenchman that General Jackson hired to come from France and do it before he was elected President.
Gus
