Lansdowne (Natchez, Mississippi)

Lansdowne is a historic estate that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi. The property began as a 727-acre, antebellum, hunting estate - like the estates of the landed gentry in England.^[2]^[3] After the Civil War Lansdowne became a cotton plantation. Cotton, corn, sheep and cattle were raised there until about 1960. The original owner's residence and 120 acres of the original estate are still owned and occupied by the descendants of the builder, who open it periodically for tours.

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Lansdowne
U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Lansdowne in 2006
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Location	17 Marshall Road, Natchez, Mississippi
Coordinates	31°35′5.2″N 91°21′42.8″W
Area	120 acres (49 ha)
Built	1853 (1853)
Architectural style	Greek Revival
NRHP reference No.	78001581^[1]
Added to NRHP	July 24, 1978

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Location

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Lansdowne is located on M.L. King, Jr. Road (Formerly Pine Ridge Road), one mile north of the Natchez city limits (The driveway into the property is now known as Marshall Road).^[4] Lansdowne adjoined the Homewood estate.^[5]

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Antebellum history

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The property became known as Lansdowne when Charlotte Hunt and her new husband George Matthews Marshall, a Princeton University graduate, built their lavish home on the 727 acres in 1852–1853.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10] The hunting estate was named after the Marshall's English friend, the Marquess of Lansdowne, probably because it made them feel like English landed gentry.^[6]

George and Charlotte's great wealth originated from both of their parents' families. Charlotte's father, Jefferson County, Mississippi planter David Hunt - one of the only 35 millionaires in the U.S. in 1860 - gave the five of his seven children who reached adulthood before the Civil War $70,000 (by his valuation) in assets from his estate. He lived a few miles from Lansdowne on Woodlawn Plantation. Each married child received at least one plantation, about 100 enslaved Africans and a set of silver from Baltimore.^[5] Thus, Charlotte received the Lansdowne property on the high ground near Natchez for her home, and Arcola cotton Plantation in the very fertile flood-prone land of Tensas Parish near the Mississippi River town of Waterproof for an income.^[11]

George's father, banker and planter Levin R. Marshall - also one of the 35 U.S. millionaires in 1860 - was surely involved in financing George's fine residence on Lansdowne, as well as, in expanding Arcola Plantation.^[12] Levin R. Marshall lived at the suburban Natchez estate known as Richmond.^[13]

In 1860 George's Louisiana and Mississippi agricultural holdings were valued at $319,000 (~$8.82 million in 2023).^[14] This dollar amount did not include much of his earned and inherited wealth.^[14]

The following is more information about the (approximately $91,000) 727 acre Lansdowne Estate in Adams County, Mississippi in 1860.

The land was previously known as the Nathaniel Ivy tract, and next as the home of Robert Dunbar (who was the father of Joseph Dunbar (politician)). Dunbar was the patriarch of the rich, planter clan known as the country Dunbars - no relation to the city Dunbars who owned the Forrest Plantation. Robert Dunbar moved away to his Oakley Grove Plantation (at the site of the current Adams County Airport). The land was eventually passed down through Dunbar's descendants to Charlotte Hunt - the line being: Robert Dunbar; Jane (Dunbar) Ferguson, whose husband David's parents owned Mount Locust Plantation; Ann (Ferguson) Hunt; and Charlotte (Hunt) Marshall.
George Marshall had $75,000 in real estate in Adams County in 1860, which included the 727 acres and buildings of Lansdowne.^[15]
George Marshall had $16,000 in personal property in Adams County in 1860, which included sixteen enslaved Africans, the livestock and equipment on Lansdowne, etc.^[16]
- Susan Gruby Washington was an enslaved African at Lansdowne, who was born in Guinea, Africa. She stayed on Lansdowne, working as a nurse for the Marshall children after the Civil War. She was married to Robert the butler. They lived in the two rooms of the second floor of the kitchen building with the cook immediately behind the main house. She died on February 25, 1918, and was buried in the cemetery there.^[17]
- Benjamin Chaney, Ellen Pippin and York Pippin were three enslaved Africans, who lived on Lansdowne according to an account by Susan Gruby Washington, which was found on ancestry.com.

The following is more information about (the approximately $254,000) Arcola cotton Plantation in Tensas Parish, Louisiana in 1860, which supported Lansdowne.^[18]

The land probably passed from the business firm of Abijah Hunt and Elijah Smith to Abijah's nephew David Hunt, and then on to David's daughter Charlotte Hunt and her husband George Marshall. An early 1800s land survey at the bureau of land management website shows "A. Hunt & E. Smith" as owners of a 623 acre tract that was part of Arcola Plantation. David Hunt inherited his Uncle Abijah's real estate, and also bought out the other owners in the Hunt and Smith firm. Then he would sometimes expand the various properties by purchasing adjacent land. Thus, this is the most likely way that the Arcola Plantation was created.
Value of Real Property (land - 1,000 improved and 700 unimproved acres - and other non-moveable objects) $119,000^[18]
Value of Personal Property - $135,000^[18]
- $55,000 worth of implements and machinery^[18]
- 125 enslaved Africans in 28 dwellings^[18]
- $7,940 worth of livestock, which included four horses, 41 mules, 16 milch cows, 23 working oxen, 25 sheep, 150 swine, 30 cattle^[18]
- 1,000 bales of ginned cotton - 400 pounds each, 6,000 bushels of Indian corn, 100 pounds of wool, 50 bushels of peas and beans, 50 bushels of Irish potatoes, 300 bushels of sweet potatoes, $500 of slaughtered meat^[18]

Twelve Years a Slave is a book (full text is available for free at the Project Gutenburg website) that describes what life was like for the enslaved, such as the ones owned by the Marshalls on the Lansdowne Estate and on Arcola Plantation. According to the book, if one of the house slaves on an estate, such as Lansdowne, displeased the owners, he or she would be sent to a more brutal existence as a field slave on a place like Arcola Plantation.

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Civil War and Postbellum History

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George Marshall fought in the Civil War.^[3] He was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh, returned home, and paid someone else to fight on in his place.^[3] During the War on January 8, 1865, eleven Union soldiers broke into Lansdowne to rob the Marshalls.^[3] They did not get much because the butler, Robert, had hidden the Marshall's silver under the floor of the mansion.^[3] In frustration the soldiers took a few pieces of the Marshall's fine china and smashed it along the road as they left.^[3]

With the enslaved African labor from before the war now replaced with share croppers, most of the previously highly profitable plantations began struggling to make a profit.^[5] In general, the children of David Hunt had to sell off Cincinnati, Ohio real estate investments inherited from their father, and take out mortgages on their plantations to rebuild their plantations and to make up their losses for as many years as they could.^[5]

After the American Civil War of 1861–1865, the Marshall's Arcola Plantation was lost; so Lansdowne became a plantation with cotton, corn, sheep and cattle being raised there until about 1960.^[2]^[3]^[14] At times the Marshall descendants relied on the small income from the sale of butter and eggs from their farming operation to help keep them going.^[8] Beginning in 1932 during the Great Depression, charging tourists for tours of the antebellum Natchez planters' homes, including Lansdowne, during the annual Pilgrimage tours brought in much needed income.^[19] A cotton plantation scene from the movie Show Boat (1951 film) was filmed on Lansdowne Plantation.^[20] During the 1950s the Marshall descendants sold off the last of their cotton land.^[6] Lansdowne has been added to the National Register of Historic Places since July 24, 1978. In 1995 Devereaux Nobles and her brother George Marshall IV - both great-grandchildren of George Marshal I - owned Lansdowne.^[6] The owner's residence and 120 acres still belong to the Marshall descendants.^[8]

Architecture

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The residence, built ca. 1853, was designed in the Greek Revival architectural style.^[9]^[14] The exterior of the mansion is deceiving, given the scale of the rooms within.^[21] It has high ceilings, and a 65 foot long center hall.^[4] The great size of the hall gives it a more extravagant feel than is found in many of the larger Natchez mansions.^[10] When entering from the front door into the center hall, on the left side of the center hall are the drawing room, dining room and butler's pantry.^[4]^[21] A stairwell in the butler's pantry leads to storage rooms in the basement and attic.^[14] The basement had wine and dairy cellars.^[6] The attic is finished off nicely with gaslight fixtures.^[6] On the right side of the center hall are three bedrooms.^[21] For some reason the Marshalls didn't build the planned second floor.^[5] Because of this, the planned library became the middle bedroom instead.^[8]

The home is important because it contains most of its lavish original interiors and furnishings with many items having been imported from Europe.^[4]^[14] The front parlor contains one of the most complete and well preserved Rococo Revival style interiors in Mississippi from the mid-1800s.^[14] The home contains rare Zuber & Cie wallpaper, rosewood and mahogany furniture, and Egyptian marble mantelpieces.^[7]^[14] The rosewood parlor set and Zuber & Cie wallpaper were purchased by George Marshall I on a trip to France.^[6] Various cypress base boards are painted to resemble oak and marble.^[6]^[14] The bronze chandeliers were once powered by gas made in the plantation's gas works.^[14]

To keep the house livable, in the early 1900s a bathroom was added on the end of the rear porch adjoining a bedroom.^[14] Electricity was added in the 1940s.^[14] In 1962 a kitchen was installed in the butler's pantry and a second bathroom was added to one corner of the middle bedroom.^[14] This was done with as little damage to the original interiors as possible.^[14]

Two smaller structures flank the rear courtyard behind the house.^[4] During antebellum times, the north structure housed the kitchen and wash room on the first floor; and the enslaved cook, butler and children's nurse's quarters on the second floor.^[4] The south structure housed the billiard room and office on the first floor, and the schoolroom and governess's room on the second floor.^[4]^[14] The north and south buildings have been updated into housing for visiting relatives and paying guests.^[8]

Lansdowne, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1938, during the Great Depression
Rear view of the mansion on Lansdowne Plantation
The south building behind the big house at Lansdowne 2013 - originally the billiard hall, office, school room and governess' room
The north building behind the big house at Lansdowne in 1938 - originally the kitchen; wash room; and quarters for the cook, butler and children's nurse
Farm Building directly behind the Lansdowne Mansion