Description:

The history of this great Natchez house is filled with sadness and tragedy and represents the unfinished dream of a broken man whose future was destroyed by the government that he cherished and supported. Dr. Haller Nutt started the house in 1859 and it is said to be his ghost, and the ghost of his wife, who haunts the place.

Natchez homes often bear such distinctive decisions of their builders, but none are so distinctive as Longwood. At a time when Greek Revival was all the rage in Natchez architecture Longwood’s creator, Haller Nutt, opted for six-story octagonal structure in the Oriental Revival style, which he topped with a Byzantine dome. The design of the house was created by a Philadelphia architect named Samuel Sloan and it resembled an eight-sided castle. It was designed to be six stories tall and made of brick, marble and plaster with eight rooms on each floor, surrounding a rotunda with an observatory on top. Intent was for 32 rooms in about 15000 square-feet.

Orders were placed which would allow the house to be furnished with expensive European designs… most of these costly goods would be seized by Federal blockades at the start of the Civil War.

It would be the war that would signal an end to Nutt’s dream of his grand and unusual home. The construction on the house continued through 1860 but came to a halt the following Spring when war broke out. The Pennsylvania architect and his workers returned home to fight for the Union, leaving Nutt’s home far from complete…. which is exactly how it still stands today.

The war not only took away Nutt’s home, but his wealth as well. Nutt settled his family onto the first floor of the house, the only floor completed, and watched as the South burned around him. Although he was a Union loyalist, he saw over $1 million of his rich cotton land either burned or confiscated by the Union soldiers. Completely broken and without the will to live, Nutt slowly wasted away from pneumonia and died in 1864. Though the Civil War interrupted construction and Dr. Nutt died in the home with only 9 of the its 32 rooms completed, Mrs. Nutt and her children continued to live in the basement, below an unfinished monolith that would have housed, among other extraordinary features, a solarium and observatory.

Some called the “oriental villa” while others called the house “Nutt’s Folly” Nutt completed only the basement level to live in during the war. The family lived in the cellar until 1897. Children/heirs-owned until 1968 before donating it to the Pilgrimage Garden Club, who maintains it today.
Dr. Nutt and his wife, Julia, seem to love the attention that is now paid to the house and frequently appear to guests and tour guides. Mrs. Nutt is usually seen inside on the staircase while Dr. Nutt seems to prefer the garden area.