Natchez, MS

Natchez, an Antebellum Gem

Each spring and fall, the people of Natchez, Miss., ready themselves for an influx of pilgrims. The event has come to define the town, whose society now revolves around it like a kind of Mecca on the Mississippi River.

Only the Natchez Pilgrimage isn’t religious, and its participants aren’t seeking out the holy—not in the strictest sense, anyway. The “shrines” are Natchez’s antebellum—or pre-Civil War—homes, more than 300 in all, many of which open their doors to the curious, the history buffs, and those longing for a glimpse of a bygone era of extravagant wealth when Natchez boasted more millionaires per capita than any other place in America outside of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.

Settled by the French in 1716, Natchez came into its own in the 19th century with the cotton boom, becoming “town” for wealthy landowners whose plantations spread across Louisiana and Mississippi but who preferred to distance themselves from the discomforts of the drained swampland on which they planted. Prior to the Civil War they numbered roughly 6,000.

Their fortunes shifted in the Civil War, though Natchez was spared the destruction felt by much of the South. “Natchez was not a critical, strategic point to hold,” says Ron Miller, an architectural historian and executive director of the Historic Natchez Foundation. The town’s relative disconnection from metropolitan hubs kept the Union army from destroying most of its structures, he adds.

Indeed, Natchez continued to thrive with the rise of its middle class following the war. But the arrival of the boll weevil in 1908 irreparably destroyed its cotton crop, sending the town into a spiraling depression that took with it many of its historic homes which were lost to fire, disrepair, and demolition. And that’s when the pilgrimage came about.

Founded in 1932 by the Natchez Garden Club—and now the nation’s second-oldest home tour—the Natchez Pilgrimage was launched to save the town’s history from crumbling into ruin by sponsoring a home tour whose profits would benefit its neediest buildings.

“That made historic preservation a social activity … just like Mardi Gras in New Orleans,” Miller says of the effort, a year-round series of fund-raisers culminating in a March to April event that doesn’t stop with the tour, and annually brings in nearly $5 million.

As with New Orleans’ storied Mardi Gras krewes, the pilgrimage fused with Natchez’s debutante season, and each year sees the appointment of a pilgrimage court complete with king, queen, and pages reigning over parties and balls throughout the season.

Only a few years after its launch, however, the pilgrimage’s sponsors split in two over financial disagreements. The newly formed Pilgrimage Garden Club went its own way—even sponsoring its own pilgrimage at first—though the rivalry has evolved to a friendly one in the interests of the larger goal of preservation. Now, the two clubs co-sponsor the pilgrimage.

Today, one need only look in any direction in Natchez (pop. 18,464) to find evidence of their success. And visitors needn’t wait until pilgrimage season to appreciate many of its restored homes, which are now open for daily tours.

Of the hundreds now enjoying restored status, perhaps none has become such an icon and point of pride for Natchez as Longwood, a National Historic Landmark whose construction was begun in 1860 but halted abruptly in April 1861 after the declaration of the Civil War. “It is probably the most eloquent, wordless document on the impact of the Civil War on the cotton planting economy of the South,” Miller says of the massive, octagonal home fusing Italianate style with Oriental touches. Designed to have 32 rooms over four main floors and a solarium, it remains unfinished to this day, its first floor appointed lavishly, its upper tiers an abandoned shell of brick, mortar, and aging wood scaffolding.

Countless other Natchez homes are imbued with history, from the princely grandeur of Stanton Hall to the delicate details of Rosalie. But while such marquee estates capture the attention of architectural enthusiasts each year, the restorative mission of the pilgrimage has had an even more lasting effect on those who live here.

“This was going to be the linchpin of the lower part of the continent,” says resident John Saleeby. In its recaptured splendor, Natchez is instead enjoying itself as a kind of perfectly restored brooch, encrusted with some of the South’s most elegant surviving gems.

Michael Depp is a regular American Profile contributor.

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