We pulled into Natchez late Thursday afternoon. After a quick stop in the visitor's center for a map, we set off for a walk along the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.
We ended up following a nature trail that ran along the bottom of the bluff, which meant quite an uphill hike back to town! Luckily Bowie's Tavern was at the top of the hill and had just that second opened for the evening! We popped in for a beer and a bit of a breather.
Natchez is just full of cute houses with spectacular views of the Mississippi.
And a couple odd ones as well!
We checked into our hotel for the evening and after freshening up, headed back into town for a little walk before dinner.
There are good looking restaurants all over the town, but we had heard nothing but good things about Cotton Alley Cafe and decided to give it a try. We definitely weren't disappointed!
We woke up on Friday morning to rain, and lots of it! We hauled on our rain coats and set out for some plantation touring. We started with a wet walk around the grounds of Melrose Estate. It is currently under renovation, but beautiful nonetheless!
A lot of the plantation houses are visible from the road, like Auburn Plantation. We just did a drive by because of the weather.
Our next stop was Longwood. It happens to be the largest octagonal building in the USA. From the outside it looks grand - even in the rain.
The first floor is beautiful, furnished just as it would have been at it's prime. (Unfortunately photos weren't allowed inside.)
Then we went upstairs...
And it's not finished. You see, Longwood was under construction when the Civil War started. When the war began, the workers all left to fight, leaving the home only partially finished. The family ended up living in the basement and were never able to complete the upstairs.
It's kind of creepy since everything was left exactly as it was found when the workers left (although they have added a floor and lighting). There are even shipping crates with their original addresses!
You can just imagine what the finished house might have looked like, though...it would have been pretty impressive!
We also wanted to tour the mansion called Rosalie, since my name is Rosalie! We had just missed the hourly tour though, so we drove down the block to the Pig Out Inn for some BBQ real quick. We got there just as the heavens opened up and were pretty soaked all through our lunch!
We made it back to Rosalie in plenty of time to take some photos around the house before the tour started. Again, no photos were allowed inside the house.
I wish the weather had been nicer so that we could explore the grounds of both houses more, but we didn't want to get soaked and I certainly didn't want my camera out in that rain! If you find yourself in Natchez I highly recommend visiting Longwood...it's sort of a different perspective than you usually get! But definitely see some of the completed plantations as well! Rosalie is beautiful, but there are many to choose from, all with a unique story.
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