Natchez Travel Guide
City located on the Mississippi River was a prominent city in the antebellum years, a center of cotton planters and Mississippi River trade.
Places to See in Natchez
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Bob M Dearing Natchez State Park
Woodland state park featuring lakes, camping, fishing, and outdoor recreation
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Emerald Mound
Massive Native American ceremonial mound preserved as an archaeological landmark
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Forks of the Road
Historic site interpreting one of the nation’s largest domestic slave markets
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Historic Auburn
Preserved antebellum residence showcasing period furnishings and Southern history
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Longwood
Iconic unfinished octagonal mansion representing grand antebellum architectural ambition
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Magnolia Hall
Elegant Greek Revival mansion displaying refined antebellum design and antiques
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Mount Repose Plantation
Historic plantation property preserving regional agricultural and architectural heritage
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Natchez City Cemetery
Historic hillside cemetery known for ornate monuments and scenic river views
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Natchez National Historical Park
National park preserving significant homes, landscapes, and cultural history
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Rosalie Mansion and Gardens
Historic riverfront mansion featuring formal gardens and elegant period interiors
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St Marys Basilica
Historic basilica renowned for ornate stained glass and Gothic Revival architecture
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Stanton Hall
Grand Greek Revival mansion recognized for lavish interiors and historic significance
Overview
Located on the Mississippi River, Natchez was a prominent city in the antebellum years, a center of cotton planters and Mississippi River trade. The city was named for the Natchez tribe of Native Americans, who with their ancestors, inhabited much of the area from the 8th century AD through the French colonial period.
History
Established by French colonists in 1716, Natchez is one of the oldest and most important European settlements in the lower Mississippi River Valley. After the French lost the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War), they ceded Natchez and near territory to Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris of 1763. (It later traded other territory east of the Mississippi River with Great Britain, which expanded what it called West Florida). The British Crown bestowed land grants in this territory to officers who had served with distinction in the war. These officers came mostly from the colonies of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. They established plantations and brought their upper class style of living to the area.
Beginning 1779, the area was under Spanish colonial rule. After defeat in the American Revolutionary War, Great Britain ceded the territory to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783).
After the United States acquired this area from the Spanish, the city served as the capital of the Mississippi Territory and then of the state of Mississippi. It predates Jackson by more than a century; the latter replaced Natchez as the capital in 1822, as it was more centrally located in the developing state. The strategic location of Natchez, on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, ensured that it would be a pivotal center of trade, commerce, and the interchange of ethnic Native American, European, and African cultures in the region; it held this position for two centuries after its founding.
In U.S. history, Natchez is recognized particularly for its role in the development of the Old Southwest during the first half of the 19th century. It was the southern terminus of the historic Natchez Trace, with the northern terminus being Nashville, Tennessee. After unloading their cargoes in Natchez or New Orleans, many pilots and crew of flatboats and keelboats traveled by the Trace overland to their homes in the Ohio River Valley. (Given the strong current of the Mississippi River, it was not until steam-powered vessels were developed in the 1820s that travel northward on the river could be accomplished by large boats.) The Natchez Trace also played an important role during the War of 1812. Today the modern Natchez Trace Parkway, which commemorates this route, still has its southern terminus in Natchez.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the city attracted wealthy Southern planters as residents, who built mansions to fit their ambitions. Their plantations were vast tracts of land in the surrounding lowlands along the river fronts of Mississippi and Louisiana, where they grew large commodity crops of cotton and sugarcane using slave labor. Natchez became the principal port from which these crops were exported, both upriver to Northern cities and downriver to New Orleans, where much of the cargo was exported to Europe. Many of the mansions built by planters before 1860 survive and form a major part of the city's architecture and identity. Agriculture remained the primary economic base for the region until well into the twentieth century.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Natchez, Mississippi", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
Featured Locations
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Natchez National Historical Park
Park commemorates the history of Natchez
