Tragic Neglect: Arlington Mansion, Natchez, Mississippi

Arlington in its prime (undated post card courtesy of Preservation in Mississippi)

Natchez is a historic city on the banks of the Mississippi River in west central Mississippi. In the pre-Civil War era, the city generated fabulous wealth from the cotton and sugarcane trade. The wealthiest families built suitably fabulous mansions to demonstrate said wealth. Much of this economic activity came to an abrupt halt when the war started, but fortunately, the city did not suffer warfare or burning. After the war, the city's fortunes revived for a few decades but generally declined in the twentieth century. Fortunately, much of the architecture remained intact, including many of these amazing mansions.

Arlington, Natchez (Tri-X Prof. film, Tachihara 4×5" camera, 135mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar-S II lens)

One of the grand structures is Arlington, now located at 1320 John A. Quitman Boulevard. It has suffered decades of neglect and may be on a demolition list because it is structurally unsound. According to Wikipedia,

Arlington is a historic Federal style house and outbuildings in Natchez, Mississippi. The 55-acre (22 ha) property, which includes three contributing buildings, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It was further declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974. Following a fire that destroyed much of the main house, it was placed on Mississippi's 10 most endangered historic places for 2009 by the Mississippi Heritage Trust.

Arlington suffered a devastating fire in 2002. According to a 2018 article in the Natchez Democrat newspaper,

Arlington was built by John Hampton White in 1818. In 1973 the property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and in 1974 was declared a historic national landmark.

In September 2002, Arlington suffered severe fire damage, which destroyed the roof and the second floor. A roof was installed shortly after the fire, but no work was done to protect the house from weather or vandalism, the Democrat reported in a 2012 story. In 2009, the house was named the second most endangered historic property in Mississippi by the Mississippi Heritage Trust. The Mississippi Heritage Trust has been releasing a list of 10 most endangered places since 1999. 

The owner is a Dr. Thomas Vaughan, who has let the property suffer severe deterioration. I do not know the present status of the City of Natchez' plan to condemn the structure and assume ownership. Preservation in Mississippi described some of the confusion and issues around the status of the building, which obviously have not been addressed as of the time of my visit in late 2020. 

Someone (occasionally) mows the driveway and part of a former front lawn. But the sides and back of the house are thick with brush, and I did not try to walk out back. The porch is a mess of poison ivy. The driveway had tire tracks, and some trash and bottles attest to visits by vandals. 

Formerly grand central hall

Drawing Room (Kodak Panatomic-X film, Leica M2, 25mm ƒ/4 Color-Skopar lens)

Mobile phone view of the Music Room

As you can see, there is nothing left in these rooms. The floor looked marginal in some areas and I did not venture inside.

Side entrance to Arlington (Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

Plaster lath and plaster panels

The east side is overgrown and almost impassable. In summer, I think you would not want to battle with the poison ivy (and snakes and bugs?)

After a few hours exploring, what is there to do in Natchez? Why, go eat some barbecue at Pig Out Inn on Canal Street. Outdoor seating, good food, and room for social distancing.

Natchez is an interesting and well-preserved city. I will return for more exploring.

Impossible Mansions of the Delta, Mount Holly, Lake Washington

Mount Holly, Lake Washington, Mississippi

Lake Washington is a quiet little town on the banks of a lake of the same name, about 20 minutes south of Greenville just west of Hwy. 1. The crescent-shaped oxbow lake is a peaceful, bucolic setting, where cormorants and anhingas sit on branches of cypress trees, and ducks quack in the distance. Drive slowly on Eastside Lake Washington Road past modest one-story houses, and you come across this impossibly grand Italianate mansion sitting on an equally grand lawn. What kind of wealth was there once in the Delta to allow this kind of extravagance? What were the original owners thinking in 1856?
MS Preservation wrote about the history of Mt Holly; recommended reading, as are all the interesting posts dealing with Mississippi's architecture and history.
At first glance, the structure appears to be in reasonably good condition. But look more closely, and you see that it is deteriorating badly. Some of the roof is intact, but trim around the soffits is rotting, and some parts of the roof are failing.
Walk around to the back, and you see broken windows and decay. A gent I met a few houses to the south said someone started repair work a few months ago, and indeed, there is a commercial work-foreman's trailer parked on the front lawn. But the trailer has been vandalized, and little work appears to have been done in many months (or years?). Previous owners used the mansion as a bed and breakfast, and the rear section of the house has a modern kitchen and redecorated rooms. They are now seedy, but at least this was a going concern in the late 1990s or early-2000s.
The front and side porches show the effects of years of neglect.
This porch, on the north side of the house, would have been an inviting place to laze away a hot summer afternoon in the pre-air conditioning era.
As pointed out in the MS Preservation blog, many sections of brick are crumbling. Areas were repointed with modern concrete rather than soft mortar, which would have matched the mortar used in the 1800s. I thought anyone buying a historic house would know enough to not use the wrong mortar, but obviously some people are really stupid.
The drawing rooms were elegant and even today do not look too bad. The windows are intact so far, but vandalism will take a toll if the present owners don't secure the property.
The Susie B. Law home is another fine mansion only a short distance south of Mount Holly. A reader commented that it was built in 1902 for Sidney Law and may have been ordered from Sears, Roebuck & Company (yes, they sold very fine kit homes for decades - why don't we do this now?). I don't know the recent history of this handsome wood house, but the weeds are taking over and it looks unoccupied. 

Please see this post for a 2014 update on the Law House.
See this post for some 2014 black&white film photographs.

Not far south in Chatham is Roy's Store, still thriving, and a fun place to visit.
Also see the Preservation in Mississippi article on Mount Holly.

These are digital images taken with an Olympus E-330 digital camera, tripod-mounted, with the Olympus 14-54 mm ƒ/2.8 lens.

UPDATE June 18, 2015: Mount Holly burned early in the morning on June 17, 2015. The damage is overwhelming. The Lakeport Plantation blog posted photographs of the destruction. I am saddened to see another piece of our heritage so badly damaged that it is unlikely to ever be restored.