Road trip with Rachel: Natchez, Mississippi - WDAM - TV 7 - News, Weather and Sports

Road trip with Rachel to Natchez, Mississippi

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From steamboats to antebellum homes, Natchez, Mississippi is the oldest city in Mississippi. Seven on your Side explored century old mysteries behind the walls of Longwood Mansion.

If there's one thing about Natchez that's more beautiful than magnolia blooms in the spring, it's the Longwood Mansion.

The house was never completed, and the War Between the States prevented that from happening.

In 1861, the Civil War reached Natchez and craftsmen dropped their tools and headed north. The house was under construction when the war started, so everything stopped, the workers left, and they never returned to finish it. Nutt lost his fortune, and he died a few years later.

"Had the house been completed, the dining room would've been on the main floor," said Harry Boschieri, Longwood tour guide.

Some areas have not been touched in more than a century with tools and household items in the same place they were when the Nutt family and slaves dropped everything and left. Longwood is not the only mansion in Natchez, there are several.

Many Natchez landmarks have remained the same for years. If you look to the old jail, the hanging gallows still remain upstairs. The population in Natchez has vastly declined since the Sixties. This is just a tiny glimpse into what Natchez is all about. To genuinely experience its rich culture, you'd have to go see for yourself.

The artistic director for the Natchez Festival of Music, going on between now and May 24, is Jay Dean, who is the music director and conductor of the Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. Dean makes it a point to connect the festival to USM.