Rosalie Mansion

Rosalie Mansion is a historic pre-Civil War mansion and historic house museum in Natchez, Mississippi. Built in 1823, it served as the architectural inspiration for a large number of Natchez's grand Greek Revival mansions, and was a major influence on Antebellum architecture in the greater region. During the American Civil War, it served as Union headquarters for the Natchez area from July 1863 on.[2] It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.[2]

Rosalie Mansion
Front view
Location100 Orleans Street, Natchez, Mississippi
Coordinates31°33′32.12″N 91°24′30.33″W
Built1822
ArchitectJ.S. Griffin
Architectural styleGreek Revival
NRHP reference No.77000781
Significant dates
Added to NRHPAugust 16, 1977[1]
Designated NHLJanuary 19, 1989[2]

Description

Rosalie is located southwest of Natchez's downtown area, overlooking the Mississippi River at the junction of Orleans and South Broadway Streets. It is a basically cubical three-story brick building, with a truncated hip roof encircled by a low balustrade. Its front facade has a monumental four-column Tuscan portico, with entablature and a gabled pediment with a semi-oval window at its center. Broad entrances in the center bay provide access to the house on the ground floor and a balcony on the second; both have double-leaf doors, sidelight windows, and semi-oval transom windows. A five-column portico extends across the center of the rear elevation, although it is covered by a flat roof without entablature.[3]

History
Rosalie, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1938

Rosalie Mansion was built for Peter Little, a wealthy cotton broker, in 1823[2] on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. It is on a portion of the site of the Natchez Indians' 1729 massacre of the French at Fort Rosalie.

On July 13, 1863, a week after the Battle of Vicksburg, General Grant took possession of Rosalie to use as Union Army headquarters. On August 26, 1863, General Walter Gresham took command of Union Army troops at Natchez. His headquarters remained at Rosalie.

Gresham had much of the owner's furnishings stored in the attic and put under guard to prevent theft or destruction. Union army tents covered much of the property surrounding the mansion. Union Army soldiers were placed in position in the widow's walk on top of the mansion.

Historic house museum

Rosalie Mansion has been owned, operated, and maintained as a historic house museum by the Mississippi State Society Daughters of the American Revolution, for more than seventy years.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.[2][3] Photography is not allowed inside the mansion.

  • Side view
  • Flower garden
  • Greenery abounds in wet months

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. "Rosalie". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2013-06-19. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
  3. Ann McCormack O'Hare (Mrs. William E.) (July 29, 1988). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Rosalie" (pdf). National Park Service. Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying 10 photos, aerial, exterior and interior, from 1988 and undated. (1.94 MB)
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