page_title: Polk Place
section_title: After President Polk's death
hierarchical_section_title: Polk Place / After President Polk's death
caption_attribution_description: English: Interior of Polk Place was taken near the time of Sarah Polk’s death in 1891.
context_page_description: Polk Place was the home of 11th President of the United States James K. Polk and his wife Sarah Childress Polk, originally on Vine Street in Nashville, Tennessee before it was demolished in 1901.
context_section_description: After the president's death first lady Sarah Polk lived in the home, she became a recluse for some time, barely leaving the mansion.  She wouldn't find solace until fostering a great niece, Sarah Polk Jetton in the early 1850s. Soon she opened her home back up for invitations and hosting guests along with the occasional event. She hosted distinguished and popular guests throughout her widowhood, such as Adelicia Acklen a close friend, along with Abram Hewitt, Edward Cooper, John C. Calhoun II, John Catron, George Bancroft, Cyrus Field, William Vanderbilt, Sam Houston among numerous others, including Presidents Andrew Johnson, Rutherford B. Hayes and Grover Cleveland.    
  During the Civil War, Polk Place was considered neutral ground by both the Confederate and Union armies, despite the fact that she had nephews fighting on the Confederate side. Union Generals Ulysses S. Grant, Don Carlos Buell, frequently paid their respects to the former first lady, as had Confederate generals briefly before the Union occupation.  
  (At the end of the war, Sarah's great niece Sarah Polk Jetton was married in the main parlor of Polk Place to a wealthy Nashville merchant, George Fall.)
caption: Foyer of Polk Place.
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