This article attempts to list the oldest extant buildings in the state of Mississippi in the United States. Some dates are approximate and based upon dendochronology, architectural studies, and historical records. The area that is now Mississippi was originally inhabited by Native Americans. The city of Natchez was first established by French Colonists in 1716, and is one of the oldest and most historically important European settlements on the Mississippi River. The region was colonized and traded between French, Spanish, British, and American forces during the 1700s and a diverse architectural legacy remains visible in about ten surviving structures from that period.
To be listed here a building must:
Building | Image | Location | First Built | Type | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mississippian Mounds, e.g. Emerald Mound site | Throughout state | 800–1600 | Earthen mounds | Though no original Native American buildings remain above ground, a number of constructed platform mounds have been preserved. | |
LaPointe-Krebs House | Pascagoula | 1757 | House/Military | The LaPointe-Krebs House is the oldest building in Mississippi, and the state's only surviving French Colonial structure. As one of the oldest structures on the Gulf coast of the United States, it currently operates as a museum open to the public and has recently undergone an extensive restoration. [1] | |
Dog Trot House "Scotia" | Grand Gulf | 1768 | House | The oldest British Colonial structure in the state. It was originally located in a Scottish Highlander settlement of Scotia five miles south of Roxie in Franklin County, Mississippi. It was built by Thomas Foster and notably has wooden pegs instead of nails. It was donated to the Grand Gulf Military State Park in 1974. [2] | |
King's Tavern | Natchez | 1769–1789 | Military | Traditionally considered the oldest British Colonial structure in the state, the second oldest building, and the oldest building in the city of Natchez. According to some scholars, the more likely date of construction is as late as 1798-1799. [3] | |
Mount Locust | Stanton | 1780 | House/Inn | An early British home, plantation, and Inn built along the old Natchez trace. Operated as a museum by the National Park Service. | |
Hope Farm | Natchez | 1780–1792 | House | An early Natchez house that at one point served as the home of the Spanish commandant of Natchez District and colonial Governor of Spanish West Florida, Carlos de Grand Pré. He is believed to have built the house although it is contended that it was built before he purchased the property meaning it could be even older than believed. Later it was the home of Katherine Grafton Miller, the founder of the Natchez Pilgrimage. In March 2023, it suffered a fire that claimed the life of its longtime owner. [4] | |
Richmond | Natchez | 1784 | House | An early Natchez house that was potentially built for Juan St. Germaine, an Indiana interpreter. [5] The house was later notably owned by banker and planter Levin R Marshall who added two distinct additions to the original center section of the house. | |
Linden | Natchez | 1785 | House | An early Natchez home that was built for Alexander Moore . Later additions or alterations in 1815. | |
Springfield Plantation | Fayette | 1786–1791 | House | It is an early plantation house built for Virginian Thomas M. Green Jr. It is among, if not the oldest, masonry buildings in the state. It is also believed to be the site of Andrew Jackson's infamous first wedding to Rachel Robards (née Donelson). | |
Spanish House | Grand Gulf | 1790 | House | The oldest surviving of two remaining original buildings in the ghost town of Grand Gulf. It was restored in 1958 and is located in the Grand Gulf Military State Park. [6] | |
Airlie | Natchez | 1793 | House | An early Natchez home built by planter Stephen Minor during the Spanish colonial period. Subsequent additions were made in the 1830s and 1850s. | |
Cottage Gardens | Natchez | 1795 | House | An early Natchez home built during the Spanish colonial period for Don José Vidal, a Spanish government official in Natchez and later Louisiana. He founded Vidalia, Louisiana across the Mississippi River from Natchez which was named after him in 1811. | |
House on Ellicott's Hill | Natchez | 1798 | House | An early Natchez home that was built for James Moore soon after American control was asserted in Natchez. It was the first house to be restored by the Natchez Garden Club in the 1930s. It is currently operated as a museum. | |
Texada | Natchez | 1798–1805 | House | An early Natchez home which is the oldest masonry building in the city. [7] It was built by Manuel Garcia de Texada and in 1805 was listed as the most valuable building in the city. | |
Gloucester | Natchez | 1803 | House | An early Natchez home designed and built by Levi Weeks for David Williams. Mary McIntosh Williams later inherited the house. She was the wife of Winthrop Sargent who was the first Governor of the Mississippi Territory. | |
China Grove | Lorman | 1804 | House | An early plantation home with a log cabin at its core believed to have been built in 1804. It was built by Revolutionary War veteran Willis McDonald. | |
The Elms | Natchez | 1804 | House | An early Natchez home which was constructed by John Henderson, a native of Scotland. It subsequently served as a Presbyterian manse and residence. | |
Stutzman House | Woodville | 1805 | House | One of the oldest remaining buildings in Woodville which was the home of the French Stutzman family. [8] | |
Mistletoe | Natchez | 1807 | House | This house was constructed for Peter Bisland, son of Scottish native John Bisland, as a wedding gift. | |
Meadvilla | Washington | 1808 | House | One of the oldest remaining buildings in the former town that was built as the home of Cowles Mead, a politician who notably served as the Mississippi Territory Secretary and Acting Governor. | |
Desert Plantation | Pinckneyville | 1808-1812 | House | An early Federal style plantation that was plantation was established by Robert Semple in 1808. | |
Ford House | Sandy Hook | 1809 | House | It is one of the oldest homes in the Pearl River Valley and was built by Reverend John Ford. It was the site of two early Mississippi Methodist Conferences (1814 and 1818). Bishop William McKendree and General Andrew Jackson also stayed at the house. It was also the site of the Pearl River Convention in 1816 which sent a delegate to Washington DC to advocate against splitting the Mississippi Territory (then containing modern-day Mississippi and Alabama) in two. | |
Woodville Baptist Church | Woodville | 1809 | Church | Believed to be the oldest church building in the state. | |
Port Gibson Reveille Building | Port Gibson | 1810 | Commercial | An early Federal style commercial building. Part of the Market Street-Suburb Ste. Mary Historic District. | |
Miss Phoebe's House | Port Gibson | 1811 | House | An early house in Port Gibson. Part of the Market Street-Suburb Ste. Mary Historic District. | |
Salisbury Plantation | Woodville | 1811 | House | An early plantation house that is believed to have been built by Captain Moses Hook. It is named in honor of his home county Salisbury Township in Massachusetts. [9] | |
Selma Plantation | Natchez | 1811 | House | An early Natchez home that was built for Gerard Chittocque Brandon. His son, Gerard Brandon, was a Mississippi governor. | |
Auburn | Natchez | 1812 | House | A mansion designed and built by Levi Weeks for Lyman Harding, the first Attorney General of Mississippi. It was subsequently owned by the Duncan family from 1820-1911 when it was sold to the city. | |
Blantonia Plantation | Lorman | 1812 | House | An early plantation house built for John Blanton. | |
Glenfield Plantation | Natchez | 1812 | House | The original portion of this Natchez plantation is believed to have been built around 1812. The property that the house sits on was owned by the Monsanto family for a time. | |
Holly Grove | Centreville | 1812 | House | An early Federal style plantation that was established by Duncan Stewart, a man from North Carolina. | |
Rosemont | Woodville | 1814 | House | It is also known as Poplar Grove or the Hale House. It was built for the parents of Jefferson Davis and was his boyhood home. | |
White Cottage | Natchez | 1814 | House | Also known as Twin Oaks, this house is believed to have been built around 1814. | |
Routhland | Natchez | 1815 | House | Construction on this early house was begun around 1815 for John Routh and was the second house in Natchez to bear that name. The Routh family was one of the wealthiest in Mississippi. It was later owned by Charles Clark a Mississippi Governor and soldier. [10] | |
617 Market Street | Port Gibson | 1815 | Commercial | An early Federal style commercial building. Part of the Market Street-Suburb Ste. Mary Historic District. | |
623 Market Street | Port Gibson | 1815 | Commercial | An early Federal style commercial building. Part of the Market Street-Suburb Ste. Mary Historic District. | |
710 Market Street | Port Gibson | 1815 | Commercial | An early Federal style commercial building. Its second story was removed after a 1968 fire. Part of the Market Street-Suburb Ste. Mary Historic District. | |
Smithland | Kingston | 1815–1817 | House | An early home that was built for Benijah Smith. It is the only remaining Federal-style building in the settlement of Kingston. [11] | |
Myrtle Bank | Natchez | 1816 | House | A home built for George Overaker prior to 1817. In 1835 Alfred and Eliza Cochran expanded the house to its present size and form after purchasing it. | |
Pecan Grove | Church Hill | 1816 | House | An early plantation house built by Thomas Baker, a man from New Jersey. | |
Englesing Home | Port Gibson | 1817 | House | An early home that is claimed by some to be the birthplace of Constance Cary. Part of the Market Street-Suburb Ste. Mary Historic District. | |
Planter's Hotel | Port Gibson | 1817 | Hotel | An early Federal-style hotel. Part of the Market Street-Suburb Ste. Mary Historic District. | |
The Cedars | Columbus | 1818 | House | The oldest known building in Columbus. | |
Old Mississippi State Capitol | Jackson | 1839 | Capitol | The oldest known building in Jackson. | |
Temple Gemiluth Chassed | Port Gibson | 1892 | Synagogue | The oldest remaining synagogue in the state. |
Jefferson College, in Washington, Mississippi, at 16 Old North Street. Named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, the college was chartered in 1802, but did not begin operation until 1811. Jefferson College was founded as an all-male college but operated primarily as a college-preparatory school, and later became a military boarding school, which it remained for most of its history.
The Pine Belt, also known as the Piney Woods, is a region in Southeast Mississippi. The region gets its name from the longleaf pine trees that are abundant in the region. The Pine Belt includes 9 counties: Covington, Forrest, Greene, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lamar, Marion, Perry, and Wayne.
McRaven was built c. 1797 by Andrew Glass in a town called Walnut Hills, which is now Vicksburg, Mississippi. In the Civil War era, it was known as the Bobb House, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as such. McRaven got its current name from the street it is located on, which was formerly called McRaven Street, but is now Harrison Street. McRaven has been on the Mississippi Department of Archives and History's Historic Preservation list since January 8, 1978. It is also believed by many to be haunted and has been called "the most haunted house in Mississippi."
Church Hill is a small unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Mississippi, United States. It is located eight miles east of the Mississippi River and approximately 18 miles north of Natchez at the intersection of highway 553 and Church Hill Road. Church Hill was a community of wealthy cotton planters and enslaved people before the American Civil War. Soil erosion, which had been going on since well before the Civil War, caused the area to decline into a poor farming community with none of the land under cultivation by 1999. The area is remarkable because its antebellum buildings are mostly intact with few modern buildings having been built.
Grand Village of the Natchez, also known as the Fatherland Site, is a 128.1-acre (0.518 km2) site encompassing a prehistoric indigenous village and earthwork mounds in present-day south Natchez, Mississippi. The village complex was constructed starting about 1200 CE by members of the prehistoric Plaquemine culture. They built the three platform mounds in stages. Another phase of significant construction work by these prehistoric people has been dated to the mid-15th century. It was named for the historic Natchez people, who used the site in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Melrose is a 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) mansion, located in Natchez, Mississippi, that is said to reflect "perfection" in its Greek Revival design. The 80-acre (320,000 m2) estate is now part of Natchez National Historical Park and is open to the public by guided tours. The house is furnished for the period just before the Civil War. Melrose was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974.
A Mississippi Landmark is a building officially nominated by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and approved by each county's chancery clerk. The Mississippi Landmark designation is the highest form of recognition bestowed on properties by the state of Mississippi, and designated properties are protected from changes that may alter the property's historic character. Currently there are 890 designated landmarks in the state. Mississippi Landmarks are spread out between eighty-one of Mississippi's eighty-two counties; only Issaquena County has no such landmarks.
"Green Leaves", also known as the Koontz House or the Beltzhoover House, is a Greek Revival mansion in Natchez, Mississippi, completed in 1838 by Edward P. Fourniquet, a French lawyer who built other structures in the area. It was purchased by George Washington Koontz, a local banker in 1849 and has been owned by his descendants ever since. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1979.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Harrison County, Mississippi.
City Hall in Meridian, Mississippi in the United States is located at 601 24th Avenue. Originally designed by architect P.J. Krouse in 1915, the building underwent several renovations during the 1950s that diminished the historic quality of the building. City Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and as a Mississippi Landmark in 1988. After complaints of a faulty HVAC system, the building underwent a restoration to its original 1915 appearance beginning in September 2006. The project was originally estimated to cost $7–8 million and last two years. Because of several factors including the building's listings on historic registers, a lawsuit filed by a subcontractor, and unforeseen structural problems, the final cost and duration of the renovation far exceeded original estimates. The renovation was completed in January 2012 at a total cost projected to reach around $25 million after interest on debt.
Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) is a state agency founded in 1902. It is the official archive of the Mississippi Government.
First Presbyterian Church of Natchez is a historic church at 117 S. Pearl Street in Natchez, Mississippi. It was built in 1830 with Greek Revival and Federal style architectural features. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It also became a contributing property to the Natchez On-Top-of-the-Hill Historic District in 1979. For many years The Manse housed its pastors.
The Masonic Hall in Long Beach, Mississippi, also the former home of Southern Star Lodge No. 500, F&AM and the Hancock County Bank Building, is a historic building that was designated a Mississippi Landmark in 2008.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Yalobusha County, Mississippi.
Edgar Lucian Malvaney (1896–1970) was an architect in Jackson, Mississippi. He designed many buildings, including several listed on the National Register of Historic Places including the War Memorial Building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Hinds County as a contributing property to the Old Capitol. Malvaney worked for Theodore Link, C. H. Lindley and was involved in a partnership with his cousin Emmett J. Hull before opening his own firm.
Claude H. Lindsley was an American architect based in Mississippi.
The Corinth Clothing Manufacturing Building is a historic building in Corinth, Mississippi. It was built in 1897 and 1898. It is a Mississippi Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is at 700 Tate Street. It was also used for the Adams Machine Company Building, Berry Motors Building, and Chadco Building.
Amite County Courthouse is in Liberty, Mississippi, the county seat for Amite County, Mississippi. It was built from 1839-1840 and is the oldest extant county courthouse building in the state. It is a Mississippi Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A historical marker commemorates its history.
West Point Colored High School was a school for African American students in West Point, Mississippi. It was designed by E L. Malvaney of Jackson, Mississippi and constructed in 1946. It is at 425 Fifth Street. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Mississippi Landmark. After desegregation it was used as Northside School.