Object Details
- General
- Longwood Plantation was located on eighty-six acres south of Natchez, Mississippi. The property was purchased in 1850 by Haller Nutt (1816-1864), who earned his fortune farming sugar and cotton in Louisiana and Mississippi. The purchase of Longwood was inspired by his wife Julia, who had always been fond of Natchez. From 1860 to 1873, Longwood was the site of geometrically-patterned gardens, trees and allées following the drive, and vast rose gardens. The gardens once covered fifteen acres of the land surrounding the house, with a full ten of the acres planted in roses. Anecdotes state that the gardens were so large that Julia Nutt had to take a horse and carriage out whenever she wanted to pick flowers. The grounds also included a small bowling alley for the family's amusement and large peach and pear tree orchards and vegetable gardens, which Julia used to feed her family when they had fallen on hard times. Surviving records suggest that Mark Kyle, a Philadelphia gardener and landscape architect had a hand in the creation of the gardens at Longwood. When the home was designed, it included four verandas overlooking the gardens and shaded by the ancient oak trees that grew on the plantation. The house on Longwood Plantation, also known as the Octagon House or Nutt's Folly, was designed by the Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan beginning in 1859. The octagonal house design was popular during the 1850's throughout the United States, and the form was praised for its utility and cheapness. Longwood is the largest and grandest of the octagon houses built in the United States. The Oriental Revival style residence uniquely combines both Moslem and Italianate architecture with the eclecticism and exotic romanticism, which flourished in mid-nineteenth-century American architecture. Constructed from 1860 to 1862, the palatial structure is an eight-sided, two and one-half story, brick house over a full basement and topped with a large onion-shaped "Moorish" dome. The scale of the house is immense, spanning 30,000 feet, and including thirty-two rooms, eight verandas, four porches, 115 doors, twenty-six fireplaces, twenty-four closets, twenty-six coal-burning fireplaces, and a rotunda that opens to the cupola. Construction was halted in 1861 when the Civil War broke out, with only the exterior and nine rooms on the basement level completed. In 1862, Nutt finished the basement level, and the family moved into this completed section of the mansion. The estate also included several planned outbuildings, many of which were never used for their intended purpose. These structures, still standing today, include the kitchen, necessary (privy), slave's quarters, carriage house, and stables. The Nutt family's cemetery was also kept on the grounds at a considerable distance to the southwest of the mansion. From the first floor up through the third, the house remained an incomplete, empty shell due to the severe financial losses caused by the Civil War. By the time of his death in 1864, Nutt was deeply in debt and his unfinished home came to be known as Nutt's Folly, a symbol of his financial fall. Haller Nutt died in the home in 1864, and his wife, Julia, remained in residence until her death in 1897. The property remained in the possession of the Nutt family until 1968, when it was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Kelly McAdams, who in turn sold it to the Pilgrimage Garden Club of Natchez. In 1969, Longwood was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark. Sadly, during this time the once spacious and well-tended gardens fell into a state of disrepair, with only the path of the driveway remaining from the original garden plan. When the Pilgrimage Garden Club began restorations there were no visible surface signs of the former gardens of Longwood Plantation. The Pilgrimage Garden Club still owns Longwood today and operates it as a historic house museum and offers tours. Despite the fact that Longwood was never completed on the interior above the basement level, the exterior detailing has survived in an amazing state of preservation. The vast upper stories remain just as the workmen left them in 1861, which provides an opportunity to see a mid-19th-century house under construction. Together with the papers of the owner, Haller Nutt, and the architect, Samuel Sloan, Longwood offers a comprehensive view of the creative process and architectural theory of the period. Persons associated include: Haller Nutt (former owner), Samuel Sloan (architect), Mark Kyle (possibly landscape architect), Mr. and Mrs. Kelly McAdams (former owner), and the Pilgrimage Garden Club (owner).
- Varying Form
- Also known as Nutt's Folly and the Octagon House.
- General
- Postcard circa 1915-1950.
- Architect
- Sloan, Samuel
- Owner
- Pilgrimage Garden Club
- Nutt, Haller
- Collection Collector
- Marchand, Richard
- Place
- United States of America -- Mississippi -- Adams County -- Natchez
- Longwood Plantation (Natchez, Mississippi)
- Topic
- Gardens -- Mississippi -- Natchez
- Mansions
- Spanish moss
- Formal gardens
- Rose gardens
- Architecture, Moorish Revival
- Domes
- Plantations
- Live oak
- Porches
- Architect
- Sloan, Samuel
- Owner
- Pilgrimage Garden Club
- Nutt, Haller
- See more items in
- Richard Marchand historical postcard collection (35mm slides)
- Richard Marchand historical postcard collection (35mm slides) / Mississippi
- Sponsor
- A project to describe images in this finding aid in this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
- Extent
- 1 Slides (photographs)
- Archival Repository
- Archives of American Gardens
- Identifier
- AAG.MAR, File MS030
- Type
- Archival materials
- Slides (photographs)
- Postcards
- Collection Citation
- Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Richard Marchand historical postcard collection.
- Collection Rights
- Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
- Bibliography
- This property is featured in: Hunt, William Lanier. Southern Gardens, Southern Gardening. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1992. Whitwell, William Livingston. The Heritage of Longwood. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1975.
- Genre/Form
- Postcards
- Collection Restrictions
- Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
- Record ID
- ebl-1585920647092-1585920647290-2
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