Lansdowne (Natchez, Mississippi)

Lansdowne
Location 17 Marshall Road, Natchez, Mississippi
Coordinates 31°35′5.2″N 91°21′42.8″W / 31.584778°N 91.361889°W / 31.584778; -91.361889Coordinates: 31°35′5.2″N 91°21′42.8″W / 31.584778°N 91.361889°W / 31.584778; -91.361889
Area 20.5 acres (8.3 ha)
Built 1853 (1853)
Architectural style Greek Revival
NRHP Reference # 78001581[1]
Added to NRHP July 24, 1978

Lansdowne is a historic mansion that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi.

Location

It is located on Marshall Road, one mile north of the Natchez city limits.[2]

History

David Hunt (1779-1861), a prominent plantation owner in the Antebellum South, gave his daughter Charlotte Hunt and his new son-in-law, George M. Marshall, Lansdowne Plantation as a dowry, and the couple planned and built the mansion on the plantation in 1852-53.[3][4][5][6] Lansdowne adjoined Homewood Plantation, which belonged to Charlotte's sister Catherine.[7] Before the American Civil War of 1861-1865, Lansdowne Plantation's cash crop was cotton.[8] The plantation was 727 acres in size.[9] Not being one of David Hunt's biggest plantations, he gave Charlotte another plantation across the Mississippi River in Louisiana as well.[7]

George Marshall had twenty-two slaves on Lansdowne and owned Louisiana real estate valued at $119,000.[10] In 1860 his Louisiana and Mississippi property was valued at $319,000.[9] This did not include any other investments he would have had.[9] His father was Levin R. Marshall, a Natchez millionaire planter who owned 1,058 slaves just before the Civil War.[11] Levin R. Marshall lived at the suburban Natchez estate known as Richmond.[12] A portrait of Levin R. Marshall and George M. Marshall, painted by Louis Joseph Bahin, hangs in the dining-room.[13]

George Marshall fought in the Civil War.[8] He was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh, returned home, and paid someone else to fight on in his place.[8] During the War on December 12, 1865, eleven Union soldiers broke into Lansdowne to rob the Marshalls.[8] They did not get much because the butler, Robert, had hidden the Marshall's silver under the floor of the mansion.[8] In frustration the soldiers took a few pieces of the Marshall's fine china and smashed it along the road as they left.[8]

The mansion and 120 acres still belong to the Marshall descendants.[4] It has been added to the National Register of Historic Places since July 24, 1978.

Architecture

One of the two rear dependency buildings at Lansdowne Plantation in 1938

The mansion was designed in the Georgian Revival architectural style.[5] The exterior of the mansion is deceiving, given the scale of the rooms within.[14] It has high ceilings, and a 65 foot long center hall.[2] The great size of the hall gives it a more extravagant feel than is found in many of the larger Natchez mansions.[6] To the right of the hall are three bedrooms.[14] To the left of the hall are the drawing room, dining room and butler's pantry.[2][14] Due to the impending Civil War, the Marshalls finished the mansion quickly, leaving off the planned second floor.[7] The mansion is important because it contains most of its original interiors and furnishings.[2] The home contains Zuber & Cie wallpaper, rosewood and mahogany furniture, and Egyptian marble mantelpieces.[3] Two dependency structures flank the rear courtyard behind the house.[2] During antebellum times, they housed the kitchen, wash room, servant's rooms, billiard room, office, schoolroom and governess's room.[2]

Outside, the grounds span 140 acres, including Spanish moss, streams, woodland.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Staff (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lansdowne, Spring Pilgrimage 2013 - a special publication of The Natchez Democtat, North Canal Street, Natchez, MS
  3. 1 2 3 Caroline Seebohm, Enshrining the Old South, The New York Times, February 10, 1991
  4. 1 2 Official website: History
  5. 1 2 Helen Kerr Kempe, The Pelican Guide to Old Homes of Mississippi: Natchez and the South, Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 1989, p. 52
  6. 1 2 Van Court, Catherine (1937). In Old Natchez. Doubleday. pp. 53–55.
  7. 1 2 3 Kane, Harnett T. Natchez on the Mississippi (1947 ed.). New York: Bonanza Books. pp. 174–189.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Caroline Seebohm and Peter Woloszynski, Under Live Oaks, Clarkson Potter: New York, 2002, pp 144 - 157
  9. 1 2 3 "National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form". National Park Service. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  10. ↑ Jordan, Winthrop D. (1995). Tumult and Silence at Second Creek. LSU Press. p. 125.
  11. ↑ Scarborough, William (2006). Masters of the Big House. LSU Press. p. 15.
  12. ↑ Historic Resources Inventory: Richmond
  13. ↑ Official website: Tour
  14. 1 2 3 Howard, Hugh (2003). Natchez: the Houses and History of the Jewel of the Mississippi. New York: Rizzoli. pp. 137–141.
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