Auburn - Natchez, Mississippi
by Susan Rissi Tregoning
Title
Auburn - Natchez, Mississippi
Artist
Susan Rissi Tregoning
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Lyman Harding, Mississippi’s first Attorney General, hired a young architect, Levi Weeks, to design and build Auburn for him. Completed in 1812, this antebellum home was the first mansion built in Natchez and also the first home constructed to architectural design.
After Harding died in 1820, Auburn was purchased by Dr. Stephen Duncan and his wife, Catherine, who added wings on either side of the house. Around 1863, amid growing secession tensions, the Duncan’s abandoned the home and 222 acres of land leaving by Union Gunboat. They made their way to New York never returning to their home in Natchez.
The Duncan’s son, Stephen Junior, stayed at Auburn and lived there until his death in 1910. His heirs donated the home and all the land to the city with the stipulation that the house and land stay together and be made into a park for the citizens of Natchez.
The city wasn’t quite sure what to do with the home, they auctioned off the home’s furnishings, and used the upstairs as an apartment the park’s caretaker and his family. The downstairs sat empty with the doors unlocked, becoming a playhouse for the children of the city. The land is now Duncan Park.
In 1972, the Garden Club leased it. They opened it for tours and ran it as a B&B until 2009 when their focus changed to preserving the home. It is now a historic house museum and is open for tours.
Copyright 2019 Susan Rissi Tregoning
Uploaded
May 20th, 2019
Statistics
Viewed 3,200 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/25/2024 at 6:07 PM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet