Jungle Fever

Think of summer in the Deep South and up pops an image of a classic movie scene: Insects hum. Tropical birds caw. Vines part to reveal ruined columns of a lost temple.  Sweat beads on the hero’s brow.  Summertime in Natchez, Mississippi gives the term “Deep South” a new meaning for we are deep, in the heart of the kudzu jungle.

Part the vines in Natchez and you’ll see not an ancient temple but an antebellum mansion–not in ruins but in full glory. Make that over 30 mansions. And they’re not just any old mansions. These mansions are the King Kongs of Southern architecture. They put the O in opulent. Natchez, Mississippi has the largest and most significant collection of King Cotton era mansions on the planet. In 1850, Natchez was known as the New Port of the South. And while the green backs that built them have been replaced by green leaves of kudzu, the houses still stand in our tiny lost island of a city.

Perched 200 feet over the Mississippi River, Natchez’ historic properties survived the Civil War as well as the poverty and progress that followed.  From the river overlook, through the 1790’s grid of one way streets, to the outskirts of town,  history is tangible in Natchez’ 1200 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.  The heroes of this story are the generations of preservationists whose work has made the city its own treasure island.

Any day of the week in Natchez, you may tour a dozen museum houses, visit one of the largest Indian mounds in the U.S., taste fantastic Southern cuisine, see a real working cotton plantation, meander through a 200-year-old church or cemetery, and enjoy a vista of the Mississippi River second to none.

So plan a trip to Natchez, Mississippi soon. You can stay in one of 50 antebellum or Victorian bed and breakfast houses or check into one of 3 boutique historic inns. Come to our little corner of the world. You’ll forget all about the jungle you left behind.