Natchez History Tour

Grand Village of the Natchez is a 128.1-acre site encompassing a prehistoric indigenous village and earthwork mounds in present-day south. The complex was constructed by members of the prehistoric Plaquemine culture. The village was the Natchez tribe's main political and religious ceremonial  center. 

The second largest worship mound in the United States is located just north of Natchez, MS. Emerald Mound was built and used between 1300 and 1600 A.D. by the forerunners of the Natchez Indians. 

The museum showcases an exhibit of many African American sites   and information in the Natchez area. The Forks of the Road, The Rhythm Nightclub, Literary author's, and more can be discovered at the Natchez African American Museum of Culture. 

Located downtown behind the First Presbyterian Church is an outstanding collection of photographs on display in Stratton Chapel taken from as early as 1860. The collection of more than 500 photographs includes family portraits, steamboats loaded with bales of cotton, historic buildings and street scenes. 

There is a great sense of peace and inner serenity one obtains when inside the beautiful churches, Basilica or Jewish Temple in Natchez. Stained glass windows, marble alters, and exquisite architecture grace the historical structures.

Melrose is owned and operated by the Natchez National Historical Park. The 80 acre estate offers a free ground tour of original outbuildings including slaves quarters, laundry house and kitchen. Melrose, the antebellum home, is available for tours year-round. Tickets for the mansion can be purchased on property. 

With more millionaires living in Natchez then anywhere else in the nation (pre-Civil War), and the city's surrender to Union Forces, you'll find more antebellum structures in Natchez than anywhere else in the America. Take a tour to see how families lived and preservation helped the homes survive today. 

Forks of the Road (mid-19th century), is where tens of thousands of men, women, and children were brought in chains and coffles to the second slave market. Today, exhibits at the site provide information about the Domestic Slave Trade and the City of Natchez being the center of slavery during this period in history. 

Built in 1859-61 by Smith Daniell , Windsor plantation once sprawled over 2,600 acres. Legend says that from a roof observatory, Mark Twain watched the Mississippi River in the distance. A fire in 1890 destroyed the 3-story mansion and the column are all that remain. 

Along with the history of the early Natchez planters and their slaves, the tour includes a rare Smithsonian quality steam cotton gin and then contrasts the historical methods with modern day planting, harvesting, and computerized ginning of cotton. Evolution of change from the 1790's through sharecropping is told.