HERMITAGE, Tenn. — For many young folks Easter Sunday means spending a little time searching for eggs.
However, one middle Tennessee historical site is putting its own spin on the annual tradition of looking for hidden treats.
On many Sundays, folks tour the house and grounds of Andrew Jackson's Hermitage.
But on Easter, the Bull family visited the Hermitage with a specific mission.
"There's supposed to be seven, I think I found six," said Annika Bull, a 9-year-old participating in the Hermitage's Easter Rat Scavenger Hunt.
"I tried finding a piano and looked close to it and then I found the rat," said Spencer Bull, a 7-year-old participating in the Easter Rat Scavenger Hunt.
The Easter Rats are a tradition stretching back generations for the Jackson family.
“The story of the scavenger hunt comes from little Rachel Jackson. She was Jackson's granddaughter,” said Tony Guzzi, chief experience officer for Andrew Jackson's Hermitage.
It all started while Rachel was away at boarding school.
“While she was there at Easter time, they were making eggs. They made a large quantity of eggs, and rats got into the eggs," Guzzi said.
She wrote about it to her family.
“It's in the Jackson family letters that we have in our collection," Guzzi said.
The story got passed down from generation to generation.
So now on Easter weekend, mixed between the priceless antiques, stuffed rats are perched in strategic spots waiting for children and adults to spot them.
According to Guzzi, events like these are a way to get young people interested in learning about history, which isn't always easy to talk about.
"For someone like Andrew Jackson, he was controversial in his own day, and he's controversial today and sometimes that controversy makes it hard to study history,” Guzzi said.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at robb.coles@newschannel5.com.
The line ''see something, say something" took on new meaning recently in Bowling Green. Two alert neighbors helped tip police to stolen Corvettes from the nearby assembly plant. That led law enforcement to find 8 stolen Corvettes worth over $1 million. We may all be able to learn a little lesson from this.
-Lelan Statom
