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St. Tammany Parish:
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A Trip Back in Time |
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by James T. Coy III, MDOne could say that The Natchez Spring Pilgrimage started by accident. Indeed, no person attending the 1931 State Garden Tour in Natchez had planned to go into any of the homes. However, for whatever reason—and there have been several proposed, most relating to the weather—it was suggested that maybe the guests would enjoy peeking inside the beautiful structures.
It’s interesting to note that all of the homes had been built prior to 1861, and all had witnessed, in varying degrees of severity, the ravages of time and the monetary neglect that accompanied the boll-weevil devastation and the Great Depression that crippled the entire country after 1929. With that in mind, many of the homeowners thought that surely no one would want to see their homes, but as the guests came in they literally thought that they had been transported back in time. There was an abundance of fine silver on priceless tables and inside cabinets. Cornelius and Baker chandeliers descended from magnificent medallions on the ceilings. Wallpaper, carpet and draperies were still in place from their antebellum days. Some of the woodwork still had its original coat of paint. All of the guests were amazed at what had been preserved and the fact that many of the homes were still possessed by the same families that had built or owned them since before the Civil War.
The homeowners made plans for “pilgrims” to tour their antebellum gems the following spring. The first Pilgrimage was held March 28-April 3 in 1932, and the “pilgrims” did come: 1,500 people from 37 states paid $2 per tour to experience what the garden tour ladies had seen the previous year. The Natchez Spring Pilgrimage has gone on to achieve international success, attracting visitors from around the globe. The quaint city of Natchez is gearing up for this year’s event, which runs from March 10 to April 14, and is already looking ahead to next spring, when the Pilgrimage will celebrate its 75th anniversary.
Read on for a sampling of two of the 28 magnificent antebellum homes open to visitors during the tour.
An octagonal beauty
No other home exemplifies the rapid rise in wealth that one could attain in pre-Civil War Natchez, and also the devastating rate of decline, as does Longwood. The house is noted not only for its architectural beauty, but also for its fascinating history.
Haller Nutt was a cotton plantation magnate who by 1860 had acquired 40,000 acres of land and a library of 10,000 volumes. He married Julia Augusta Williams of the prominent Austin Williams family of Natchez. He started construction of Longwood in 1860 as an oriental villa, designed by Samuel Sloan of Philadelphia. This eight-sided, six-story home enclosed 30,000 square feet of living space, and had 115 doors, 26 fireplaces and windows 11 feet tall. The full exterior of the house was finished in 1861, but inside, only the living quarters in the basement were complete. When the Civil War got under way, all construction on the home’s interior was halted. The workmen simply dropped their tools and walked away—many of the tools are still there. Destitute and unable to complete the build, the Nutt family lived in their basement. Haller Nutt died in 1864 and was buried in the family cemetery on the property. After surviving through many years of hard times, Julia passed away in 1897. Their descendants continued to live at Longwood until 1968.
Longwood has been designated a National Historic Landmark and is now owned by the Pilgrimage Garden Club of Natchez, who rebuilt the home’s finial-topped dome in 1993. The club’s president, Ruth Audley Britton Conner Coy, is Julia Nutt’s great-great-great niece.
A grecian gem
Stanton Hall is one of the most magnificent palatial residences of antebellum America. The mansion was built for cotton broker and planter Frederick Stanton between 1857 and 1858, when Natchez was at its height of pre-war prosperity. The central hall measures 16 feet wide and 72 feet long, with doors 10 feet tall. The two main floors account for almost 11,000 square feet of living space. The front portico features four massive fluted Corinthian columns.
Stanton Hall was acquired by the Pilgrimage Garden Club of Natchez in 1938 and was restored to its Grecian opulence. Many of the Stanton descendants have returned a significant number of the original furnishings. The home is also on the registry of National Historic Landmarks.
Dr. Coy is the manager of Natchez Pilgrimage Tours.
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