The Towers

Nestled in the center of five lush acres with huge oak trees planted over 150 years ago, The Towers is one of Natchez’s grand mansions. Built in three stages, the house transformed from a frame cottage to the Italianate mansion it is today.

The original structure was created in three phases beginning in 1798 and resuming in 1826 and 1858. The house displays a unique and identifying trait, symmetrical towers on either end of the structure. In 1927, a fire in one of the towers reduced it to ash, and the house owners at the time had its mate removed that same year to maintain the house’s symmetrical look. An extensive interior and exterior renovation of the house included the recently completed massive restoration and reconstructed two towers, which are the genesis of the house’s name.

The cottage structure was built in 1798 and is still extant today, the central section was built in 1826 and full three stories. The main house has approximately 9,000 square feet. It has been said that the house was built in such a manner that it did not appear ostentatious.

One of the outstanding architectural features of The Burn is the staircase, which rises in a short straight flight along the southerly hall wall before making a graceful half-circular turn through space to terminate in the upstairs hall. The newel is composed of a series of turned balusters, and the stair is adorned with ornamental brackets.

The home is furnished in period antiques by the current owners, who have a high sense of style and 19th century interior design. The only original furniture that re- mains in the house is the dining room table. makers of the era, John Henry Belter, John. J. Meeks, Alexander Roux and Prudent Mallards works can all be seen here. The interior renovation has been from floor to ceiling with highly decorative wall coverings, draperies, extensive plaster moldings, wainscoting and Aubusson carpets added throughout the house. in 1858, the Italianate façade was added making it one of the purest examples of Italianate architecture in the city. The façade features a two-story recessed porch known as a loggia that is accented by three arches on each floor of the porch which is set between matching third-story rooms on each end of the house.

John Walworth came to Natchez by way of Ohio. He acquired three plantations, served as president of Planters Bank and served as an alderman and mayor of Natchez. By the year 1860, his real estate holdings totaled $300,000 and his personal property was valued at $26,000, making him one of the wealthiest men in Natchez.

In 1863, after the fall of Vicksburg, Natchez was occupied by Union troops. The family was given 24 hours to vacate their home. The Union army took The Burn and used it for a hospital. The family was not allowed back into their home until 1866. The current and eighth owners of the home are Glenn and Bridget Green. The Greens have restored several historic homes in Natchez over the years and The Burn is operated as a bed and breakfast.

During the Union’s occupation of Natchez in the Civil War, the Towers became part of Fort McPherson, a large earthwork fortification constructed in the northern section of Natchez. Union officers occupied the house and soldiers used the grounds as a campsite, pitching tents across the original eight acres of the grounds.

The home is furnished throughout with a large collection of Rococo Revival furniture, 1840s to 1860sfrom the great cabinet furniture

The current owners, Ginger and Roger Hyland have been renovating the home since 2006, and in addition have added to the magnificent home with an extensive collection of hundreds of antique beaded purses, crowns and tiaras, vintage costume jewelry, chatelaines and art glass. In fact, the Towers has been dubbed one of the nation’s most unique and must-see seasonal tours, with its “Jeweled Christmas at The Towers” with elaborate Christmas decorating using thousands of pieces of vintage rhinestone costume jewelry. The luxurious estate is exquisite at any time of year.

One of the most important and historically intact homes in Natchez., still owned and occupied by the descendants of the original builder. It contains most of the original furnishings and its decorative finishes including the original French scenic Zuber wallpaper are intact. The rare interior has been carefully preserved for over 160 years.

Designed in the Georgian Revival. The exterior is deceiving, given the scale of the rooms once inside, you enter into a 65-foot long center hall. The great size gives it a more extravagant feel than is found even in many of the larger Natchez mansions.

To the left of the hallway is a spacious drawing room with an exquisite white marble mantel carved in a calla lily design. Behind the mantel is a large mirror in an Adams frame; resting on the mantel is a Sevres clock and two matching urn-like ornaments, all under glass domes. The front parlor contains one of the most complete and well-preserved Rococo Revival style interiors in Mississippi from the era.

Over the windows are gold leaf cornices from which hang replicas of the original lambrequin window coverings. The original rare and delicate artifacts were donated to the decorative arts collections of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York, a branch of the Smithsonian. The walls still display the original hand-blocked French Zuber wallpaper. The house contains Cornelius and Baker of Phil- adelphia bronze chandelier gasoliers, originally fitted and supplied by a gas plant built on the grounds of Lansdowne.

Being in the same family since 1853, the house has many layers of heirlooms and furnishings. The bedrooms of Lansdowne are quite large. The front bedroom is furnished with an original set of large, hand-carved rosewood furniture made by Prudent Mallard of New Orleans.

At the rear of the house is a large brick courtyard. On opposite sides of this courtyard are two brick dependencies, each two-story, which originally contained the kitchen, washroom and enslaved servants’ rooms in one, and a large billiard room, office, schoolroom and governess’ quarters in the other.

Lansdowne is truly a must-see property, a private home it also offers Bed & Breakfast accommodations.

Auburn is located in Duncan Park in a setting of huge moss-draped oaks, magnolias and pines. The magnificent red brick mansion is owned by the City of Natchez and operated by the Auburn Antebellum Home, an all-volunteer group who operate and manage Auburn for the city, and have done extensive work in restoring the beautiful interior of the house and in bringing back some of the home’s original furnishings. In 2016 extensive work to repair damage to the roof, floor and interior of the independent kitchen and slave quarter building was completed. These type of “dependency” or support buildings are rare significant architectural buildings visitors will want to see.

As the home of the first Mississippi Attorney General, Lyman Harding, this National Historic Landmark is famous for establishing the style of the columned portico in the South and boasts an exquisitely designed freestanding spiral staircase. Auburns architect, was the talented Levi G. Weeks, who as a young man in the year 1800, made headlines in New York as the accused in the first court recorded murder trial in the United States. Weeks was acquitted, but now infamous he left NY for Natchez and became a well-respected architect and builder of fine homes.

Auburn is considered a master work of Weeks, and is believed to be the first house in the Mississippi territory to utilize the orders of architecture. Upon Harding’s death, the home was sold and greatly expanded in 1820 by Steven Duncan who added wings to Auburn and furnished the home exquisitely, where the family entertained national celebrities.

In 1911, Dr. Duncan’s descen- dants, deeded Auburn and its surrounding grounds to the City of Natchez as a memorial to the family. Its grounds which form Duncan Park were put to good use as a city park, and are used for golf, tennis, baseball, nature trails, picnicking and other recreational activities. Historic preservation in America was still in its infancy in this early period of the 20th century and the idea of keeping an historic sites period furnishing intact was rare, and so the city not knowing better, thought an empty house might more easily be maintained and sold all of the historic furnishings off. The house was not as easy to manage and only opened periodically to the public, when in 1972 the city entered into a lease with the Auburn Antebellum Home group to operate and restore the home and to be opened to the public where they welcome visitors from across the globe now.

Pleasant Hill, nestled in downtown Natchez, is on the National Register of Historic Places and was originally built by John Henderson, a prosperous merchant.

Henderson was the publisher of the local newspaper, and a founder of Natchez’ First Presbyterian Church. Henderson, a native of Scotland, settled in Natchez in 1787, and constructed Pleasant Hill prior to 1835.

The house served Henderson and his wife, Selah Mitchell, a native Natchezian. A well was originally built on property where Magnolia Hall now sits, but over a one-year period during the 1850s, the Henderson’s moved Pleasant Hill one block south on log rollers by oxen teams. The house with its mahogany stair-