Natchez National Historical Park

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Natchez National Historical Park
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
Map of the United States
Location:	Natchez, Mississippi, USA
Coordinates:	31°32′36″N, 91°22′59″W
Area:	108.07 acres (0.44 km²)
Established:	October 7, 1988
Visitation:	232,023 (in 2005)
Governing body:	National Park Service

Melrose dining room with punkah

Natchez National Historical Park commemorates the history of Natchez, Mississippi, and is managed by the National Park Service.

Melrose

The park consists of three distinct parts. Fort Rosalie is the site of a fortification from the 1700s, built by the French, and later controlled by the United Kingdom, Spain, and the United States. The William Johnson House is the home of William Johnson, a free African American barber and resident of Natchez whose diary has been published. Melrose is the estate of John T. McMurran, a lawyer and state senator who was a planter in Natchez from 1830 until the Civil War.

The fort is not open to the public. The other two units of the park include displays related to life in antebellum Natchez.

The collection at Melrose's two-story Greek Revival main house and its slave quarters includes painted floor cloths, mahogany punkah, a set of Rococo Revival parlor furniture, a set of Gothic Revival dining room chairs, and bookcases with books dating to the 1700s. These were collected from Natchez families including the McMurran family. The collection in the Johnson house includes furnishings from his life and family. Archaeological objects found in the park are also on display.

The National Historical Park was authorized on October 7, 1988 (U.S. public law 100-479; H.R. 4457), and the William Johnson House was added to it on September 28, 1990 (U.S. public law 101-379; H.R. 4501). As with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service, the park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.