Restoring Hope Farm 2026

Hope Farm, the house my great aunt Katherine and her husband Balfour Miller bought and restored in 1926 was built around 1740 with later additions and reorienting the house to another direction.  I grew up going over there as a child and giving tours to visitors -- sometimes as many as a thousand a day.  It was due to Aunt Katherine (Auntee as we called her) and her friends that cultural tourism got its start in the South in 1932 when the people who owned the antebellum houses here decided to open them up for visitors.

Katherine died in 1983 and Balfour shortly thereafter, when it was sold to Ethel Banta, a Natchez native who wanted to move back home after her husband died.  It's been almost two....three? years since it burned. Unfortunately, Ethel was lost in the fire.  It was a tragedy all the way around.  Everyone thought the house was a total loss, but historic preservationists Kevin and Laine Berry happened to be in town that day and decided to take it on.  Like any major project its progress has been in fits and starts, but steady, and she's starting to look like her old self again.  They've got drywall installed, windows installed and finished, and are starting on the final stages in the main house while the ell in back still has a ways to go.

Thank you, Kevin and Laine, for taking on this massive undertaking and restoring hope that was almost lost when the house burned.  You have been and are a positive addition to our little town and are bringing new ideas and ways of thinking about how to tell the stories of the past.

This Saturday was the third Restoring Hope celebration, an open-air dinner held under the boughs of a huge live oak tree with the scent of azaleas and sweet olive permeating the air.  I know that next year's dinner will be held inside, and I, for one, can hardly wait.  Laine has done extensive research on Hope Farm and talked about things I'd known nothing about until this weekend.  Laine, if you'd like to write a guest column about the history of Hope Farm, here's my invitation.

Laine Berry and me at Hope Farm

The front porch has been painted to look like marble stones by the talented Matthew McGinley.  The doors are faux bois, painted by the equally talented Austin Billhime.

The view from the back porch

Annual Gala for the Natchez Historical Society

Well, the annual Gala for Natchez Historical Society was one for the books. In spite of having to reschedule due to inclement weather, we had a huge crowd. The food was superb, as was the program about Virginia-born artist John Gadsby Chapman (1808-89), who painted the massive "Baptism of Pocahontas," installed in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in 1840.

Speakers Adam Erby and Lydia Mattice Brandt gave a fascinating program detailing Chapman's life and influences, and talked about Chapman's painting, Hagar and Ishmael Fainting in the Wilderness, which has hung in the Rectory at St. Mary's Basilica since the Civil War where it was taken to protect it from the invading Union army.

After the program, awards were distributed to several outstanding members of our community, some posthumously.

Receving awards were:

James F. Barnett Jr., historian and author for his work as site administrator of the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, as well as many other contributions to Natchez and its history.

Ser SeshshAb Heter-Clifford M. Boxley, for his tireless efforts to research and advocate for The Forks of the Road Slave Market.

Dr. Thomas H. Gandy (posthumously) and the Reverend Doctor Joan W. Gandy, both Natchez history preservationists who helped found and lead the Historic Natchez Foundation, and are recognized for the preservation of Henry C. Norman photographs and of historic images by Henry’s son Earl and other early Natchez photographers.

The MacNeil Family: Grace M. S. McKittrick MacNeil (posthumously) and daughters Elizabeth “Beth” C. MacNeil Boggess, Ph.D.; and Anne W.S. MacNeil, (collectively, the MacNeil Family) are recognized for their promotion of historic preservation through public service and civic leadership, community involvement, and philanthropy.

If you've never attended one of our programs, you're really missing out.

https://www.natchezhistoricalsociety.org

The Tornado of 1840 in Natchez, Mississippi

We had quite the crowd for tonight's program on the 1840 Tornado and climatology presented by by Pam Knox, Director of the University of Georgia Weather Network and an agricultural climatologist in UGA Extension.

Pam Knox

Not only did we learn about the second deadliest tornado in US History, which occurred in 1840 here in Natchez, but we also learned the mechanics of what makes tornados form. We learned about how climate warming is affecting tornadic activity, and how they measure the wind speed of tornados, mostly by the type and amount of damage.

For more information on Dr. Knox, please refer to her linkedin page

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pam-knox-90818411/

Mardis Gras, 2026

Terrel and I after visiting a tiny Italian fine clothing store for men and women.  I couldn't resist buying the coat, which accented my outfit perfectly.

Douglas, looking very dapper for his luncheon at The Boston Club

The clubhouse has been located at 824 Canal Street since 1884, formerly 148 Canal St, on the edge of the Central Business District. It was designed and built in 1844 by James Gallier as a city residence for Dr. William N. Mercer, a Maryland native, University of Pennsylvania, a trained surgeon and veteran of the War of 1812, posted in New Orleans, then Natchez, Mississippi, where he married Ann Eliza Farar whose dowry include Laurel Hill and Ellis Cliffs plantations by way of her mother, the heiress of Richard Ellis, who with his brother John Ellis, for their loyalty to the crown during the American Revolution, received the original 20,000 acre Royal English land grant.

Famous guests include Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Roseberry, who attended a luncheon in 1873; General Ulysses S. Grant, who lunched at The Boston Club in 1880; Oscar Wilde, who visited the club in Summer of 1882 while on tour and was made an honorary member, and gave a lecture at the Grand Opera House on Canal Street on "Decorative Art;" John J. Pershing, who visited on February 17, 1920; and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, who visited on February 21, 1950. 

It was customary, until 1992, for Rex (King of Carnival) and his queen to lunch at the club after the Rex parade during Mardis Gras. In addition, the Boston Club entertained the queen of the carnival and her court during the parade.

After lunch we walked around the French Quarter oogling the gaily and daringly costumed gaggle crowding the streets and the occasional parade marching through with their drums and trombones filling the air with music.

At one point, we came across a street performer who, for a small price, would write a special poem, just for you.  He sat in the street and typed out poems on an old manual typewriter using just one finger on each hand.  He wrote me a beautiful poem, pictured below.  Although he signed his poem, I forgot to get his name and the signature is illegible.

* Information on The Boston Club was taken from Wikipedia.