"Fortune conspired to leave us precious few places that speak of history as clearly and eloquently as Natchez. Here a tidy merchant-class town center is surrounded on three sides by magnificent suburban estates which together form a highly concentrated and well preserved slice of nineteenth-century life in the American South."
--William C. Allen, Architectural Historian, U.S. Capitol

Lovers of great houses will have cause for rejoicing in the publication of this beautiful book that unites David King Gleason, one of America's most accomplished photographers, with a historic little river city renowned for its palatial antebellum mansions.

Natchez is graced by scores of great houses that thousands of visitors reverently tour each year. Gleason's full-color pictures richly convey the style and grace of Old Natchez, a jewel on the Mississippi whose architectural splendor reflects the planter culture of the Deep South, a city that with rival sister cities of Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans claims the South's architectural crown.

Gleason's photographs of fifty-nine great houses such as Rosalie, Stanton Hall, Melrose, Longwood, Auburn, D'Evereux, Dunleith, and Monteigne are accompanied by a remarkably fascinating narrative written by Mary and Ronald Miller. Their meticulous research of historical records authenticates the colorful story of each house during its heyday.

Thus this is the first book on Natchez to include both magnificent photographs and accurate factual information.

Thanks to this volume, the beauty of Natchez is no longer merely legendary. Gleason has captured the city's astonishing charm and heritage in these lavish portraits of great houses that have endured for hundreds of seasons and have never ceased to cast a deeply alluring spell.

David King Gleason's previous books include Over Boston, Over New Orleans, and Plantation Homes of Louisiana and the Natchez Area. Mary Warren Miller is the author of Historic Natchez Foundation's Walking Tour of the Old Town, and Ronald W. Miller is executive director of the Historic Natchez Foundation.

edition, 136 pp., 125 full-color photographs