Ellicott Hill

Arare vestige of the 18th century, it is the last remaining Merchant House in the region. With its West Indies architecture Ellicott Hill is a landmark home in Natchez as the site where in 1797 Major Andrew Ellicott claimed Natchez and all former Spanish lands east of the Mississippi above the 31st parallel for the United States. Thanks to the Natchez Garden Club, it represents one of the earliest historic preservation efforts in the nation and the first restoration of a historic property by a civic organization in the State of Mississippi when in 1934 members voted to purchase and to restore it as headquarters of the club. The house, research and forensics revealed was built about 1798, by James Moore, a prominent merchant. During the Spanish administration, only people of “importance” such as doctors and wealthy merchants were granted lots fronting on Canal Street, the “front” street of the new town. In 1797 when George Washington appointed Ellicott he was a very important person indeed, as a noted mathematician and surveyor, Washington a brilliant leader was known for appointing only the most competent of men. Ellicott describes in his journal the significant and history altering event when he arrived in Natchez on Feb.

24, 1797, and set up camp near the site chosen by James Moore for his house, raising the American flag over the Mississippi Territory for the first time and The U.S. Flag of 1797 flown on Ellicott’s Hill today commemorates this encampment in defiance of the Spanish government, which refused to withdraw its garrison from Natchez until March 30, 1798. The home remained in the

1937, when the house was meticulously restored between 1939 and 1942 by the Works Progress Administration, (WPA) The city built the City Auditorium on part of the site in 1940. In 1978, fire damaged the first floors, and it sat unrestored for many years until in 1989 businessman Don dePriest purchased the mansion from the city in 1989 and did another full restoration. Today, the house is owned by business partners David Garner and R. Lee Glover who have completed the homes restoration and preservation journey and have appointed the home with the highest end elegant and luxurious 19th century furnishings and decorative art, and enhancing the site further with beautiful gardens making it by far one of the most opulent and must-see homes in the entire South.

Moore’s family with various members ownership for years and then a series of other owners ensued, by 1850, the house became the Natchez High School, a school for boys that closed almost 30 years later in 1878. When the Natchez Garden Club purchased the house, it had been used as tenant housing for the workers in local cotton mills for many years. While this integral piece of American History had fallen into great disrepair, the Club thoughtfully hired New Orleans architect Richard Koch, who helped them to restore the building into the rare architectural gem that it is. Incredibly there is also an extant inventory of James Moore’s furnishings as of 1829 and it is on the basis of this and two other Federal-period inventories that the club has furnished the house. Do not miss this important home.