Further on down the road is the town of Natchez home to 15,000, it is the oldest town on the Mississippi and had one of the largest slave markets back in the day of the confederacy.
Rosie and The Operator decide to do a carriage tour of Natchez to get a rundown on the history, orientation of the town and a few laughs…
…well, we got more than a few laughs from Randy our driver and tour guide, his trusty sidekick is Champ the horse, he is as redneck as they come and such a good historian…if not a little biased to towards the south and the State he lives in…he assured us that Donald Trump would not win the election…in a bit of a crazy manic way…as if he knew something we didn’t…
Wealthy plantation owners had townhouses and conducted their business from Natchez. Outside of New York, Natchez had the most millionaires living here pre Civil War.
There was no railway this far down the river and all cotton was transported by barges to the markets. The town is lined with giant avenues of trees and huge houses are everywhere. This is a real go getting community with a good vibe and excellent community spirit, in spring and fall they have ‘pilgrimages’ where the owners of the big houses dress up in southern plantation costumes and hold balls and conduct tours through their houses…like they say, ‘we grew up in these houses, living like this and we want to show the rest of the world our heritage and history’. It looks like alot of fun, we just missed out on the hot air balloon racing that is held over the Mississippi River every October.
Randy asked if we noticed all the ‘red doors’ around town, literally most of the smaller houses, still grand by any means had front doors painted red. That meant there was no debt on the house back in the day and the homeowners were mortgage free.
Being a listed heritage town, if you buy a heritage house you have to conform to the rules of the ‘blue haired old biddies’, according to Randy, who run the towns heritage society.
A rich old eccentric bought this house in the town and promptly painted it a nice shade of lilac with hot pink window surrounds and trims….well, half a dozen of the heritage society were immediately admitted to the emergency department with heart palpitations and a war started in the town.
The Man refused to repaint his house in the approved heritage colour schemes and was subsequently issued with a fine and an order to repaint…he didn’t, the time frame to paint the house expired and he was fined again….this went on for years, The Man was delighted to cause such an uproar in the town…apparently he paid for the house again in fines to the historical society….
Back in the day an elephant was gifted by a visiting foreign diplomat to one of the governors of Natchez, they kept the elephant in the back yard and it was a local curiosity. During a party it was wondered how much beer it would take to get the elephant drunk….apparently the elephant, after consuming a barrel of beer went on a drunken rampage and killed a couple of people and destroyed alot of property…there is still a law in the city ordinances to this day that ‘it is illegal to provide beer and any other intoxicants to an elephant.’
Thanks for the fab time we had with you Randy – also thanks to Champ for the rhythmic clop of your hooves and a steady smooth ride.
Natchez too is built on a bluff and overlooks the river, the river is huge and murky, swirls and eddies track its erratic fast current.
The Operator had to touch the Mississippi River…he went to the boat ramp….and there was a turtle….scrambling up the ramp….he always hopes to see a bear…believe me we pass plenty of signs on the road that show pictures of bears and tell you to beware….we have never seen one in all our trips…but we can notch up a wild turtle…to go with the abundance of squirrels.
We visited a property on the town boundary called Long wood, it is the largest octagonal shaped antebellum house built in the United States.
The Nutt family owned 4 cotton plantations and bought the plans for this fine house from a renowned Philadelphia architect in 1859. Work was halted on the construction in 1861 due to the outbreak of the Civil War, the Northern workforce all went home and Nutt, who owned 240 slaves as of the 1860 census put a portion of them to work to finish the exterior, all the bricks for the house, over 750,000 were hand made by slaves on site.
The window frames and all the exterior woodwork were handcrafted in Philadelphia and were some of the last shipments to come through before the war halted all non vital transportation.
Longwood, exteriorily, looks to be a finished grand house, it basically is except for the rendering, which was supposed to cover the bricks.
Inside is another story, only 9 rooms out of the 32 were ever completed…building materials and labour were at a premium, the build was put on hold and the family only completed the basement so they could live in it.
The Nutts thought is was only a temporary solution, the war will only last a couple of months…but, after a couple of years….and with the Nutts cotton plantations destroyed due to the war, they had no income and as per every other cotton baron their days of opulence had come to an end.
Hence our tour today…The basement, is below the steps you see in the picture above (we were not allowed to take photos) was by no means austere, it was lined and plastered, original furniture that belonged to the Nutts that wasn’t sold off was still there, oil portraits were on the walls and polished cypress boards were the flooring.
Climb the staircase out of the basement to the ground floor and it was like of a snapshot of how everything was abandoned and left during the Civil War over 155 years ago. Floors and wall linings were left unfinished, there is no glass in the windows, only netting to stop the birds – the fireplaces were bricked up by Nutt to make the draw better in the basement and heating more economical.
The workbenches you see are the original ones that were left, there is a pile of of fixtures that were never fitted including baths and door frames, the beautiful interior doors were never hung and still sit there today.
Nutt died in 1864 from pneumonia, leaving behind his wife Julia and 11 children, destitute and living in the basement of this great dream. Bit by bit Julia sold her jewels, china and all the valuables they had to survive.
A huge box that the grand piano came in from England still sits there…the piano sold by Julia to put food on the table. For this part of the house to have been open to the elements for so long and technically still is today the wood has no borer and looks dry and dusty with no rot at all.
If it wasn’t for a loan of $50 from a friend she would have lost the house as well after her husband died. Being of Northern allegiance during the civil war and hosting General Grant and senior army officials, it was expected that their plantations would be protected, because they were decimated Julia sued the government after the war for damages and was awarded the sum of $3,000,000.
The Government however had no money to pay damages to her and other land owners, the government said here is 250,000, take it or leave it…she was feisty and wanted her dues, she left it and kept petitioning….twenty years later, she still hadn’t seen a cent, she was offered 200,000 this time around and accepted the offer…10 more years passed, and Julia died without seeing any payment, she lived in the basement till her death, never realising the dream of the grand house.
Her children were eventually paid out $120,000, which they all fought over and ended up splitting, Three generations of the Nutt family lived in the basement and eventually sold the property in 1968 for $200,000…a Texan bought it and did extensive renovations in restoring the basement to the condition it was when the Nutts moved in before the war…since the house has been standing there has never been any electricity, running water and no heating except for the fireplaces. The Texan sold the house for $10 to the Natchez Pilgrimage Garden Society on the provision that it was never finished and it had to be used as a museum….
So many ghosts here, so many dreams unrealised, so much disappointment….this place is amazing!
Tonight we are staying at the Eola Hotel, a grand old dame in the middle of town, it is on the historic register as being built in 1840…Rosie totally believes the clanking from the plumbing can attest to this.
Its beginnings were a private residence and in 1844 a young married couple purchased this property for $1000.
During the passage of the afternoon the humidity was stifling, and the skies were getting blacker and blacker, a peel of thunder and a flash of lightening heralded a tropical torrential downpour.
We sheltered on the porch of the hotel and watched the spectacle with a glass of wine. It solidly rained for about 40 mins, the streets were awash with running water and the level rose alarmingly. Thunder and lightening boomed overhead and lit the sky, it was well impressive. With the rain the temperature dropped 10 degrees within minutes, people were saying they are thankful for the rain as they have not had any for the last 40 odd days.
Dreaming of renovation and Southern living Rosie and The Operator called it a night, tomorrow we are heading for Louisiana and staying at the largest sugar plantation house in the State. This place is more of a resort hotel complex that specialises in weddings….and is owned by an Australian. Cant wait.
White Castle – Nottoway Plantation
We are only and hour and a half away from Natchez but have crossed another State line into Louisiana.
The humidity is creeping up after the nice rain storm last night and the plantings and trees are getting a bit more tropical. It is too damp for cotton here but sugar flourishes in this climate and cane fields are spread as far as the eye can see. They are harvesting now too and dust is in the air from the cane trucks transporting the sugar cane to the refineries.
Rosie and the Operator are here at Nottoway Plantation, the biggest sugar plantation in Louisiana pre civil war.
The plantation House was built in 1855 and the Rudolph family raised their 11 children there in Southern Splendour. This portrait of the family which is in the hallway shows their two eldest children before the other 9 came along.
Julie was the guide that showed us around the house and told us the history of the grounds and house. Loved her Southern garb and accent, it really made the tour.
They owned 269 slaves when the average for this area was about 30, 25 alone worked in the house and the rest worked in the fields. The house is amazing inside and has been authentically restored to its pre Civil War glory.
This is a picture of the white ballroom, it is stunning and is all set up for a wedding rehearsal dinner being held tonight.
The plantation hosts approx 220 weddings a year here, talk about busy every weekend! This room was the families dining room, (pic below) there would always be visitors staying at the mansion and because of the travel involved, the polite length of time for a stay would be about 8 weeks…
…when you had overstayed your welcome your plate would not be warmed prior to dining like everyone else…this was the first subtle hint that no one but you knew of that you had overstayed you welcome.
If you still ignored this hint and stayed on….for desert everyone would normally be served pineapple as it was exotic and expensive…if you didn’t get served any pine apple you had really outstayed your welcome…everyone else noticed then….the next phase was that your chair would be removed from the table and you had to eat standing in the hallway, total shame.
This is the Rudolph’s master bedroom, The Operator was glad Rosie didn’t book this room…the bed is so short, apparently in the Rudolph’s time you didn’t lie down fully in bed, you slept semi sitting due to fear of getting consumption?
The grounds themselves are really beautiful we stayed in a wee private cottage on the edge of the estate, this was certainly no shack, it was all pretty plush. Lakes, fountains and beautiful garden separate the accommodations.
The Rudolph family graveyard is in the far corner of the property overlooking the house. Graceful Oak trees are planted everywhere and are on the live register of ancient trees, with the ages ranging from 150 years old to 335. The are so beautiful and huge.
Across the road is the Mississippi River, a high grass levee was built in front of the property after the river flooded in 1924.
In the Civil War days the property hosted the Union Army who camped on the grounds and on the riverbank, General Grant (he got around, didnt he) and other high ranked soldiers dined with the family and used the parlors for meetings…even though the family didn’t like them being there…it was the wisest move as this was one of the only plantation houses on the river that sustained no damage during the war.
We had dinner in the restaurant that night overlooking the grounds, it was a truly lovely experience and a beautiful house.
We are heading more into the Louisiana Swamp area and staying in Lafayette for the next couple of nights…we are aiming to take a trip out on the swamp and see it in all its glory and Rosie is hoping The Operator finally gets to see some gators and wildlife up close.
