The night in the VUE hotel was much better than we expected - we did however count the cars in the parking lot and there were only about 20. Since there was no breakfast here, we were in search of something - and found a McDonalds. Jane had selected Longview as the mansion that we would tour. Original plan was to get a 2 or 3 house ticket for the Spring Pilgrimage and do it up right - but we needed to cut short something to be back in East TN in time for a funeral on Saturday afternoon. She had no idea where any of the mansions were located when she selected this one - low and behold it was barely a mile from the McDonalds! We drove right in a little after 9 and the first tour of the day was just leaving so they waited for us to join the one British gentleman who was already there. During the year this home is open every day but Christmas for tours; and is now owned by the Natchez Garden Club that sponsors the Spring Pilgrimage. This is a huge mansion - begun in the years before the Civil War by a wealthy northerner who made his fortune raising and selling cotton from several plantations. This home Longview was their "city" home and was to be a real showplace.
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| Longview - Natchez MS |
One of the few 6-sided homes sadly it was never completed on the interior. The basement floor was completed prior to the Civil War but the war halted construction. All the craftsmen who had been brought in from Pennsylvania for the job were sent home. Husband was killed and the wife was left with 6 children to raise - sadly the home was never finished. We were able to tour the basement floor which was converted from its original purpose for their living quarters and the first floor that was unfinished but gave us an excellent glimpse of what life would have been like. Amazing structure as it is and wow what it might have been. The Garden Club bought the home and the entire acreage for a low price in the 1930's and have been restoring it over the years. Since it is historic they never plan to restore past the unfinished state of its late 1800's condition. Some of the external columns had been deteriorating and they have been replaced in a fiberglass material that will last much longer but looks identical. The parts of the home built with cypress are still in excellent condition. It is of course readily available. The home is also made of brick which was made there on the location. Some of the bricks were made with 45-degree angle to enable the odd shapes of the rooms. Interesting thing about the rooms which were all heated by fireplaces - there were 3 rooms at angle with the 3 fireplaces using a single chimney. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour given by a member of the Natchez Garden Club.
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| Ultra Fancy Indoor Toilet |
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| Child's desk |
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| This was the room layout on each level |
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| TN Marble - one of 12 fireplaces each floor |
The guide told us the second richest city in the country after New York was Natchez with so many rich northerners with their fortunes building homes here. They all got some sort of papers to have their homes saved during the war.
After the tour we made a stop at the Donut Shop we had passed several times. Ben got two concoctions of some sort and Jane asked for a filled - when she asked what kind they had - she was given a huge selection and they filled it on the spot! We headed north out of Natchez towards Vicksburg. We headed first to the Windsor Ruins on the way to Port Gibson. This mansion would have rivaled those in Natchez except it burned leaving only the columns and some steel. We found it on the old road - under some sort of construction - a walkway maybe - but everything was behind fencing so difficult to get a good photo.
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| Painting of Windsor before fire |
We made it to Port Gibson - a mostly dead town - and headed down to the Grand Gulf Military Park. A very friendly gentleman gave us a short history and review of the battles that took place here. Jane had read Grant over the winter and recalled the battles on the Mississippi. The museum was small but had quite a number of artifacts and a wonderful collection of arrowheads. High water kept us away from the area near the riverside. We ate lunch before leaving the park.
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| Model of Union Ironclad Ship |
We drove into Natchez and found our hotel. After a rest we headed to downtown Natchez and had dinner at Rusty's on the River. Ben had a seafood platter of fish, shrimp, and oysters. The oysters were prepared with onions and garlic which he said was great. Jane had coconut shrimp that was very good. It would have been excellent if the dipping sauce had not been so hot. Riverfront in Kingsport has a better sauce.
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| River Boat Display |
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| Coconut Shrimp |
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| Fish, Shrimp, Oysters and Onion Rings |
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