Historic Home Tour: Lansdowne Plantation; utter splendor owned by the same family for 7 GENERATIONS

Lansdowne, a magnificent monument to one of Natchez Mississippi's oldest and most prominent families. It's so rare that we are able to bring you a home that is still in the possession of the family which built it, and even more rare that such a home is filled with so many of its original decorative arts. Lansdowne is a feast for the senses.

The property began as a 727-acre hunting estate, like the estates of the landed gentry in England. After the Civil War cotton, corn, sheep and cattle were raised on Lansdowne 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.

Land previously known as the Nathaniel Ivy tract, became known as Lansdowne when George Matthews Marshall, a Princeton University graduate, and his new bride Charlotte Hunt built their lavish home on the 727 acres in 1852–1853 in Adams County, Mississippi near Natchez. 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.

The residence, built ca. 1853, was designed in the Greek Revival architectural style. The exterior of the mansion is deceiving, given the scale of the rooms within. It has high ceilings, and a 65 foot long center hall. The great size of the hall gives it a more extravagant feel than is found in many of the larger Natchez mansions. 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. A stairwell in the butler's pantry leads to storage rooms in the basement and attic. The basement had wine and dairy cellars. The attic is finished off nicely with gaslight fixtures. On the right side of the center hall are three bedrooms. Due to the impending Civil War, the Marshalls finished the home quickly, leaving off the second floor. Because of this, the planned library became the middle bedroom instead. Two smaller structures flank the rear courtyard behind the house. 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. The south structure housed the billiard room and office on the first floor, and the schoolroom and governess's room on the second floor.

The north building behind the big house at Lansdowne in 1938 during the Great Depression. This building was originally built as a kitchen and wash room on the ground floor and enslaved African quarters for the cook, butler and children's nurse (Susan Gruby Washington) on the top floor. After live-in workers were no longer feasible, the rooms were converted to living space for the Marshall family and also used as a rental.

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

Today, Lansdowne is a working bed and breakfast, and will be open during the Pilgrimage Garden Club Spring Tour of Homes March 27-April 6 2025. Tickets will be limited, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for sales to begin! We can't wait to meet you in Natchez, and Marsha can't to receive you at Lansdowne!

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

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