Longwood

AMAZING house! Only one floor of six was finished. 30,000 square feet. Exemplifies effect of the civil war on the south.

Natchez is noted for its mansions. One we decided to tour was Longwood. Its octagonal shape certainly makes it stand out among others. Its history — the fact that it went and still is unfinished — makes for a compelling story. The long, windy road in heightened the anticipation.
However, our tour left us wanting. Our tour guide did not seem to be as knowledgeable about this mansion as other tour guides have been about their mansions/​plantations. She also seemed to be a bit unfocused; answering questions dragged on and didn’t allow the tour to move along in a timely manner.
Longwood is an unusual mansion and worth the tour — maybe you’ll get a better guide.

Life has many inconveniences which come in different ways. The design of this house and the plans Nutt had made would have proved it be a grand showpiece. Such a disappointment that he was not able to build it to the grandeur that it could have been.
This did, however, let us have a brief «snapshot» of what life, and home building, was like for them back then. Being able to see the house in «mid-​construction» state was also a treat — they simply left their tools and tasks and went home because of the war.
Seeing the Spanish Moss on so many of the trees on the grounds was also a treat. Such wonderful grounds around the house. I took many great photos. You owe it to yourself to see this house.

The grounds were beautiful with majestic trees and large pond along the driveway. The tour consisted only of the finished basement level. Interesting architecture view of old walls before dry-​walled in unfinished upstairs. The tour guide, albeit seemed rushed at the last tour hour, imparted the huge loss/​sadness this family lost due to the civil war. So much appreciate allowing photos in the upstairs. Very dusty traveled driveway, so plan on a car wash after & wear your washable clothes.

We visited the grounds and took the tour. The guide was very informative and friendly. Very interesting design and story behind the plantation.

In researching a trip to Natchez, I came across this place as «the place» to visit. Yes it’s unique as everyone stated on Unilocal and Trip Advisor. We usually prefer a self guided tour but plantations are usually guided and if the guide is a dud, then the whole experience could be bad. But besides that, I learned a lot about… um… beds. How they come apart to allow for no headboards to allow air to flow in the summer. And there’s this rolling pin looking piece to roll the feathers evenly in the mattresses. OH, and this terrible invention over the dining room table to shoo flies away.
So it’s an octagon house. You basically are taken in a circle to each room located in it’s basement. Then you climb stairs to view the unfinished part. It’s just rafters and exposed wood. There are tools still there from when the builders left them and ran home before the war.
The grounds are nice but the bees were a problem. You know those carpenter/​wood bees? They swarmed the Women’s bathroom which is located in the servant’s house. The Men’s bathroom was fine and I almost had the bf keep a lookout while I went in there. My concern is, why are they allowing these bees to destroy the old wood like this? All they have to do is fill in the holes each winter and the bees will stay away.
They allow weddings there as they were prepping for one when we were there.
It’s a cool place to visit. Just hope you don’t get the same guide we got.

I have not visited many plantations so using the comparing and contrast method of writing a review won’t be worth trying. However, I believe when I say this one is completely different from others, I’m definetly on point. Longwood is shapped like an octagon or is it hexagon??? Regadless it’s an ‘agon’ and only the basement (1^st floor) is finished. The story behing that is extremely interesting.
The story maybe interesting but if the story teller is bad then the story losses it’s luster. I mean if the guy who directed my daughters’ 4^th grade Thanksgiving play got to direct Taxi Driver instead of Scorsese, I doubt it would be one of my favorite movies. In other words, a tour like this is all about the tour guide. Ours tried, she really did but so does the toothless day time stripper at the local gentleman’s club. She repeated the term «of course» so many times that I wanted to make a drinking game out of the phrase and she said it at all the wrong times. She would point to a painting on the wall and say «and of course that is the owners 2^nd cousin on his mother’s side» Of course!!! Of Course means it’s common knowledge. How in the hell are we suppose to know that!!! Also after hearing her say ‘winder” instead of window at least a dozen times, I was even more annoyed but I kept my cool. The straw that broke the camel’s back was her lack of elementary knowledge as to when to use «are or «is’. They are not interchangeable!!! I am not a grammar snob. Far from it! I’m sure you can find 7,000 errors in this review alone, BUT when a tour guide is this bad it drives me nuts. Thanks for keeping the ignorant Southerner sterotype rolling.
With all that being said, it’s worth a visit if in the area, it’s a short 30 minute tour and your guide may be better than ours.

Longwood is beautiful! It makes me rather sad that it was never finished, but the story is awesome. Our tour guide was a spunky older lady. She was funny and friendly, as well as knowledgeable. I wish the tour included the carriage house as well, as there were some items in there I was curious about, which is the reason for only four stars. I found it really interesting.

Longwood Plantation is gorgeous and a must see. Natchez is home to many beautiful plantation homes but Longwood is the most interesting and most beautiful of them all in my opinion.
This octagon shaped mansion is 30,000 square feet and has six stories. Pretty impressive, right? When the Civil War began the workers stopped what they were doing and went home. The only floor that was completed was the first as a result of this. The upper five floors remain unfinished and is truly spectacular to see.
If you only have time for one plantation tour in Natchez, make it Longwood.

Longwood is one of the most unique plantations I have ever visited. Located in Natchez, Longwood is massive. Looking at photographs you really can’t fathom the scope of this house. Once you get over the beauty and size of the building, you park and head into the gift shop. Tours are guided and start every 30 minutes or so.
Only the lower area of Longwood is complete. Apparently construction stopped when the civil war began so most of Longwood remains unfinished. The finished area is neat, but nowhere near as cool as the upper unfinished floors.
It’s difficult to describe, but standing in the middle of the unfinished area and looking straight up, is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. It is nearly exactly the way it was back in 1861 when the workers left their tools and headed north. I realize that my description doesn’t really do it justice, but trust me, you want to see this.
Tours are relatively expensive and the actual tour is somewhat lame, but that upper floor. Man, it’s awesome.
If you’re in Natchez or anywhere near by, Longwood is worth a visit.

Very interesting and original architecture. My favorite plantation house. It remains unfinished as construction was halted by the Civil War. Many of the carpenters were from the North, so when the war broke out, they put down their tools and went home. Many of the tools are where they were left. The lower level was finished and the family lived there, but the other levels remain unfinished. Outbuildings and grounds open for exploring. There is a gift shop and the house is held in some sort of trust, to remain unfinished, so future generations can see how things were built.

This is the plantation to visit in Natchez if you only had time for one!
Longwood’s architecture is really unique and the fact that most of the interior is unfinished really gives the visitor an interesting look into it’s construction.
Admission is roughly $ 20 if I remember correctly and you are given a tour of the house and allowed to walk the grounds. The tour was really great — it was given by a knowledgeable, humorous, and enthusiastic young guide who really knew his stuff and couldn’t resist throwing in «Nutt’ jokes every chance he got.
There is no photography allowed on the first floor (which is the only completed section of the interior), but you are allowed to take pictures upstairs. It’s really amazing to see all the construction tools and materials just laying there, like the workers just dropped them and never came back.
In addition to the house, take the time to browse the gift shop (which has some cool stuff) and walk the grounds — There’s a short trail that takes you to the family cemetery. The exterior of the house is one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture that I’ve ever seen — really enjoyed photographing it.

I echo every 5 star review here — it’s just too cool to miss when you think about time ACTUALLY standing still in this home once the civil war started! A must.

My boyfriend is from Natchez, so we were in town visiting his family when we took to the day to explore the city. One of the coolest tours was of Longwood Mansion. Construction started a little over a year prior to the start of the Civil War by the Nutt family. Nutt was a rich cotton farmer and had money to burn. The house itself is the largest octagonal home in the US, but only the first floor (the basement) was actually finished. No photography is allowed on this floor and it features portraits of the Nutt family and almost all the original furniture from the late 1800s.
Amazing history, great tour, a slice of the rise and fall of the wealthy southern plantation owners. So glad this house has been preserved and retains the lush 90 acres of forest around it.
This house was also featured in the TV show True Blood as the King of Mississippi’s (Russell Edgington) mansion.

Longwood was the very first mansion we toured on our first day in Mississippi. You go up a dirt road, pay for you ticket from the person in the booth, then continue up the road and park in the back of the mansion. The first thing you notice is the Octoagon shape. We went to the gift shop to wait for the last tour of the day. Just Dale and I were there for the tour and the gift shop attendant surprisingly was the tour guide. He was a young man but very knowlegable and he made it interesting.
The first thing we were told is that NO photos allowed inside of the basement, which is actually the first floor. The home is one of several antebellum (pre-​civil war) structures in the Natchez area.
Walking around in each of the rooms, you can envision the Nutt family walking about. They even had a slave that was like part of the family and he is buried in the family cemetery out back. We never walked to it because it was late and a bit creepy to be out there alone so I chose not to go.
When we went upstairs, you can see all of the unfinished brick work, fireplaces, empty paint cans, tools, etc. Everything was just left as if one day eveyrone just picked up and left. Well, it sounds as if that’s what happened because of the war. But from just looking around, you can tell that if it had been finished, it would have been an awesome place.
The tour guide also told us that a show called «True Blood» was filmed here. We don’t watch the show but I could see how anyone would want to film there — it’s creepy and mysterious!

Awesome piece of history here! It’s such a bittersweet story about Longwood. It’s so beautiful on the outside. I knew the story of Longwood before going on the tour but I still caught my breath when I entered the second story. What a sad story. It’s so hard to wrap your head around the lose this poor man suffered. This place would have been a one of a kind on American soil. How I wish it had been finished. Oh, how I wish…

For all you True Blood fans out there! The King of Mississippi, Russell, lives in Longwood! The outside shot is authentic, the interiors are obviously not. And do you think Bill killed Lorena with that fire???