Pleasant Hill

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 well-built house served as the home of Henderson and his wife, Selah Mitchell, a native Natchezian and his family. It was originally built on property where Magnolia Hall now sits, but over a one-year period during the 1850s, son Thomas Henderson moved Pleasant Hill one block south on log rollers by oxen teams. The house with its mahogany staircase, pocket doors and architrave between the double parlors was moved as a structure rather than disassembled. Henderson was a successful merchant and planter. He was also the author of the only known literary work, “Paine Detect-

Concord Quarters is one of the two matching brick buildings that originally flanked the rear courtyard of Concord, which was arguably the grandest building of the colonial period (1716-1798).

Concord’s history is clouded with conflicting dates and ownership. Spanish legal records, 1790s correspondence, and an 1850 United States Supreme Court case confirm that Concord was built 1794-95 for Spanish Governor Manuel Gayoso de Lemos.

In 1794, Gayoso bought a tract of land about a mile and a half from Fort Rosalie “to build thereupon a house” and “to raise the commodities” to support a family. Desiring additional land for pasture, he successfully petitioned for a Spanish grant to enlarge his property to one thousand acres. The land purchased and granted in 1794 constituted the original Con- cord property.

In February 1795, Gayoso transferred ownership of the Concord property to Margaret Watts, the sister of his deceased second wife. He wrote a letter explaining his “connection” with Margaret Watts and related that they had signed a marriage contract and he had deeded her “an elegant country house.”

Gayoso’s contributions to Natchez have been lasting. He completed the platting of the grid plan of the town and drew a line at Front Street (now Canal) and refused to grant land on the western side. Instead, he created a public commons, or park, overlooking the Mississippi River. Until the late 1830s, the park extended from Canal Street to the edge of the bluff.

Manuel Gayoso’s widow sold Concord a month after his death, and it changed ownership twice before Stephen Minor acquired the property in 1800 for $10,000.

Fifty years after the Minor family ed” or “The Unreasonableness of Paine’s Age of Reason,” written and published in Natchez prior to the American Period, in 1799 and published by Andrew Marschalk of Natchez. Prior to building Pleasant Hill, Henderson built and resided in several other homes in Natchez including The Elms and The Cliffs, but the family kept Pleasant Hill through many generations continuing to occupy the home until 1971. bought Concord in 1800, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Minor family’s title to Concord.

Remarkably, the home has changed owners only four times since that time and is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Bergeron who in 1999 purchased and undertook an extensive renovation, that included saving and moving a small c 1820s former kitchen and dependency building onto the property from a property just south of Pleasant Hill.

Dr. Stephen Kelly bought Concord in 1890 from the Minor family and the house, which had become rental property, burned in 1901. Kelly’s son, George Malin Davis Kelly of Melrose, was still lamenting its loss in the 1940s.

And what remains of Concord today? Still on the site and dating to the Minor occupancy are a small building whose original use is unknown and a two-story brick building with giant-order columns that originally served as quarters for enslaved servants. Enlarged and remodeled as a residence earlier in the 20th century, the two-story brick building was recently bought and renovated by Gregory and Deborah Cosey.

The house is also operated as a bed and breakfast.