Encircled by 26 stately white columns, Dunleith is one of the most beautiful mansions in Natchez, Mississippi, yet it has a history of tragedy.
The site was originally occupied by another mansion called "Routhland," built during the late 1700s by Job Routh and his wife. They both died and left the house to their daughter, Mary, who was 15 years of age and already a widow. Mary took Charles Dahlgren as her second husband and inherited the house. Dalhgren was a successful banker since before his marriage to Mary and became a Confederate Brigadier General during the War Between the States.
In 1855 Routhland was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. Dahlgren built a new mansion (the present one) in its place in 1856. Mary, still a very young woman, only enjoyed the new house for three years when she tragically died. The property was sold for $30,000 in order to settle the estate. The new owner, Alfred Vidal Davis, gave the house the Scottish name of Dunleith.
For the most part, Natchez was spared during the United States invasion of the Confederate States of America. This was only because, after seeing the devastation wrought by the Yankee army just 70 miles up the Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Natchez promptly surrendered.
Even though Dunleith and numerous other antebellum mansions survived, neither Natchez nor Mississippi has yet fully recovered from the ravage and destruction of the War. Before Abraham Lincoln illegally ordered the invasion and subjugation of the South, Natchez was the wealthiest city per capita in all of North America. During and following the War, the local economy took a sharp decline. Some Natchez families were forced to turn their beloved homes into boarding houses to provide housing for the legions of northern carpetbaggers who flooded into the area to continue their plunder of the defeated South during what became the travesty of Reconstruction.
The site was originally occupied by another mansion called "Routhland," built during the late 1700s by Job Routh and his wife. They both died and left the house to their daughter, Mary, who was 15 years of age and already a widow. Mary took Charles Dahlgren as her second husband and inherited the house. Dalhgren was a successful banker since before his marriage to Mary and became a Confederate Brigadier General during the War Between the States.
In 1855 Routhland was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. Dahlgren built a new mansion (the present one) in its place in 1856. Mary, still a very young woman, only enjoyed the new house for three years when she tragically died. The property was sold for $30,000 in order to settle the estate. The new owner, Alfred Vidal Davis, gave the house the Scottish name of Dunleith.
For the most part, Natchez was spared during the United States invasion of the Confederate States of America. This was only because, after seeing the devastation wrought by the Yankee army just 70 miles up the Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Natchez promptly surrendered.
Even though Dunleith and numerous other antebellum mansions survived, neither Natchez nor Mississippi has yet fully recovered from the ravage and destruction of the War. Before Abraham Lincoln illegally ordered the invasion and subjugation of the South, Natchez was the wealthiest city per capita in all of North America. During and following the War, the local economy took a sharp decline. Some Natchez families were forced to turn their beloved homes into boarding houses to provide housing for the legions of northern carpetbaggers who flooded into the area to continue their plunder of the defeated South during what became the travesty of Reconstruction.
Today Dunleith is a tourist attraction and is open daily for guided tours.
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