Natchez is a place I’ve long wanted to visit, probably the
town in the American South that most epitomizes the antebellum era with its
numerous plantation homes . In the decades before the Civil War it is said that
Natchez had more millionaires than anywhere else in America, a claim that might
at first seem somewhat farfetched but makes some more sense when you think about
it. Back in that age most of the value of wealth was in land and southern
planters not only owned land but also owned their labor force. While
plantations were naturally scattered throughout the fertile delta region of
Mississippi and Louisiana, many of the plantation owners lived in Natchez
because of its social scene and also because its high position on bluffs above
the Mississippi made it less malaria prone than the surrounding countryside.

So Natchez now has the single largest concentration of
antebellum plantation homes in the country. Many of those homes are still in
private hands while others operate as bed and breakfast inns. More than half a
dozen are open to the public for tours, though.

How many historic home tours can you go on in a day before
getting your fill? For me it’s around four, although I went to several more and
took pictures of their exteriors without going on the tour . I asked the lady at
Historic Natchez visitor information for her recommendations and decided on a
variety of different homes ranging from a palatial unfinished architectural
masterpiece to an in-town great house, to a couple more traditional type
plantation houses.

My first stop was Longwood, a six-story 30,000 foot mansion
that was never completed because the Civil War broke out during its
construction. The family continued to live on the finished first floor after
the war, but the upper five floors are an architectural wonder, a magnificent
work in progress where time stopped suddenly and has stood still ever since.

Auburn was next on my list, an imposing mansion that looks
like many modern McMansions around the South. Auburn’s portico front and pediment
roof supported by colossal columns was the original that influenced the design
of a large number of other antebellum mansions throughout the south and southern
residential architecture into the modern day . Auburn’s best known feature is its
freestanding spiral stairway unsupported to the second floor. After gawking at
several other mansions on the along the route of the driving tour on my map I
stopped at Dunleith, in some ways one of the most quintessential looking
plantation homes in that it’s the only plantation house in Mississippi
completely encircled by a colossal colonnade.

My last tour of the day was at Stanton Hall, a palatial
Greek Revival style mansion in the town of Natchez, a good example of an
in-town residence far from the working lands the family owned. With so many
beautiful homes close to the town’s center, I found Natchez to be a great town
to walk around with beautiful gardens still attractive in late October, nice
restaurants and stores, beautiful churches, and even a synagogue. I can
understand how Natchez has become such a popular place for B&B type
tourism. While that’s a bit sedate for me at my current stage in life, I could
definitely see returning to Natchez somewhere down the road once I start “slowing
down” for an inn-based weekend or week to take in more of the ambience.