The Gardens

The Gardens was built in 1794 as a summer retreat by Stephen Minor on a land grant from the Spanish Crown. Minor, a native of Pennsylvania, was appointed a Captain in the Spanish Royal Armies, then Adjutant-Major of the Post of Natchez, and finally as the last Spanish governor of the Natchez District from 1797-1798. The Gardens is an excellent example of the early planters' cottages of the Lower Mississippi Valley. Folding doors provide access to the main parlor, the hallway and the dining room. The large elliptical archway in the hall has a pilaster treatment similar to that on the interior of the entrance doorways as well as the doorway at the back. The nine-paned windows contain panes of hand-blown glass with several panes etched by M.C. Purnell in 1839 and M. M. Purnell in 1859, former owners of the house.