Images of southern hospitality, impressive architecture and river views dominate tourist brochures for Natchez Mississippi. Not unlike any city though the history of civilization and the layers of conflict and iteration are what make a place fascinating.
Like its only slightly younger regional neighbor, New Orleans, Natchez has stories to uncover and discover.
Natchez Mississippi is named for the native tribe that resided near modern day Natchez in the late 17th until the early18th centuries. Ancestrally the tribe had resided there since 700 AD.
The ancestors built the second largest pre Columbian mound in the United States. It is called the Emerald Mound and was an important ceremonial center. There is a deceptive simplicity to the appearance of what was engineered and created on the site.
One can imagine the clash of the humans as European colonists arrived to settle in the Mississippi River Valley.
We were also drawn to learn more about the Natchez Trace which is a beautiful scenic drive reaching 444 miles. It holds the distinction as the only drive to become a national park.
“The Trace” was a foot path that was a major artery for travel and trade in the late 18th to early 19th centuries. One scarcely can imagine the obstacles and challenges of wilderness by foot in the region that stretches from Nashville Tennessee to Natchez. The Trace intersects the Cumberland, Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers.
We got a brief but comprehensive tour of Natchez via Sally Durkin of Open Air Natchez tours. The four of us boarded her multi row golf cart and were led through an hour long history route through town. Sally is an effervescent, engaging guide. She seems to know everyone in town as we were continually stopped as folks down the window to inquire about her health or her holidays. If community has been lost in our society, it is alive and well in Natchez. Some of our favorite quips, “I didn’t recognize you in that car.” Reply from driver, “It’s not my car I got in a wreck”. Sally asked a neighbor while removing Christmas lights, “Aren’t you going to keep the lights up through the Epiphany?” Neighbor replies, “No we are being protestant this year.”
The history was comprehensive as Sally touched upon the multi layered human inhabitants. She began with the indigenous people who outsmarted the French colonists until years of war led to their demise and relocation.
We stopped to see the William Johnson House, where a free black man, William Johnson built his brick home in 1840. Johnson was biracial and known as “The Barber of Natchez”. He sounded pretty savvy because he built his house of repurposed brick from other buildings that had been destroyed by the tornado of 1840. He and his wife had 11 children. He also was a successful entrepreneur who had land holdings and several businesses, Johnson had the distinction of maintaining a daily diary of his daily life in the 19th century. Ironically Johnson himself later became a slave holder. His home is part of the National Park Service.
Natchez also claims one of the first black mayors in the country, Robert Wood in 1870.
Sally covered the substantial contributions of the Jewish community in Natchez. In the 18th century the French Colonial empire instituted the Black Code which expelled all Jewish people from France’s colonies. After the war a number of Jews came to Natchez and ran retail and financial establishments. Temple B’nai Israel is the oldest congregation in the state of Mississippi and dates to 1843. There is a rich history of Jewish citizen contributions to the community in Natchez.
Cotton plantation wealth created an enclave of great houses in Natchez. Three of the grandest homes are Linden, Stanton Hall and Longwood.
Linden is a mansion that dates originally to 1785. Cotton money facilitated the house’s expansion in the antebellum period. It has a white facade, gallery porch and typical soaring columns. It is presently a bed and breakfast. lindenbandb.com
Stanton Hall is massive and occupies a city block. Built in 1857-58 for $83,000 it makes a visual impact. The house used the world’s finest materials, Carrera marble, mahogany and granite front steps. There is a soaring central portico and Greek Revival columns and doorways. The enterprising descendants held on to the house by turning it into an etiquette school for wealthy young belles long after the cotton money was gone. Today it is maintained by the Natchez Pilgrimage Garden Club. The money shot is taken from the front with the Natchez water tower visible to the side. apps.mdah.ms.gov
Longwood is the largest Octagon house in the United States. Also called, “Nutt’s Folly”. Longwood mansion was built in 1860 but due to the Civil War the home was never completed. Dr. Haller Nutt was a cotton planter and engaged the services of Philadelphia architect, Samual Sloan. The first floor is the only level of the house that was habitable. Imagine an intricately designed over decorated home with empty floors above. We rather chuckled at the suggested imagery of imported crafts people literally running for the hills with the outbreak of the Civil War. www.natchezpilgrimage.com
So the last and most humorous story Sally left us with regarding the Civil War and why Natchez still has those impressive houses. Evidently a misdirected Union Army ship, the USS Essex, arrived to bomb and burn the town in 1862. The then Mayor of Natchez - John Hunter - managed to surrender without conflict, so unlike other Confederate cities that fought back they avoided destruction.
There was scant mention of much history, especially the civil rights movement or other 20th century developments. Natchez is a beautiful setting with warm and hospitable people. It was a fine complement to its rowdier neighbor down river, New Orleans.
