This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.


Pilgrimage Guide
LOST
ARCHITECTURAL TREASURES
SPRING in
Missssippi: For more than half a century, the surest sign of that season’s arrival has been the heartfelt welcomes found on the cool porches and wide hallways of the state’s grand old homes, their paneled doors once again swinging open for pilgrimage. Accents from around the world mingle in amazed exclamations as firsttime visitors discover the architectural masterpieces of Natchez and Carrollton, Canton and Columbus, and all the towns around the state that host a pilgrimage. Saved from oblivion by determination, sacrifice, and more than a little luck, mansions like Waverley and I.ongwood remind us of the long-ago days when Mississippi was a dreamer’s destination— the vast wilderness where fortunes were made and cotton was king.
FOR ALL THE REMAINING ANTEBELLUM GEMS WE HAVE, THERE ARE MANY, MANY MORE THAT ARE ONLY MEMORIES.
BY M.C. MILLER
In 1879, Governor James L. Alcorn supervised the construction of his dream, Eagle’s Nest, a dwelling of three stories and 23 rooms. It was located at Swan Lake near Jonestown.
The more adventurous pilgrims will brave rutted backroads and rickety bridges to consider the fabled columns of Windsor rising in stark silence from a Claiborne County field. Their imaginations will struggle to picture brick and mortar, wrought iron and life between those crumbling sentinels. And even those with limited enthusiasm for Greek Revival homes may find themselves overwhelmed by the prevailing sentiment in that remote place: "What a shame...."
Sadly, for every Long-wood and Waverley rescued from the ravages of time, countless examples of the state’s most architecturally and historically notable homes have fallen to the fate of Windsor. Victims of fire or neglect or changing fashion, their very existence has often been forgotten, leaving only a
14A MARCH/APRIL 1993


Pilgrimage Document (194)
© 2008 - 2024
Hancock County Historical Society
All rights reserved