Rosalie Mansion

Rosalie Mansion

Front view
Location 100 Orleans Street, Natchez, Mississippi
Coordinates 31°33′32.12″N 91°24′30.33″W / 31.5589222°N 91.4084250°W / 31.5589222; -91.4084250Coordinates: 31°33′32.12″N 91°24′30.33″W / 31.5589222°N 91.4084250°W / 31.5589222; -91.4084250
Built 1822
Architect J.S. Griffin
Architectural style Greek Revival
NRHP Reference # 77000781
Significant dates
Added to NRHP August 16, 1977[1]
Designated NHL January 19, 1989[2]

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]

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 observatory 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.

See also

References

  1. ↑ National Park Service (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Rosalie". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
  3. 1 2 Ann McCormack O'Hare (Mrs. William E.) (July 29, 1988). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Rosalie" (pdf). National Park Service. and Accompanying 10 photos, aerial, exterior and interior, from 1988 and undated. (1.94 MB)
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