Haller Nutt was a successful planter and plantation owner with sites in Mississippi and Louisiana which grew crops of cotton and sugar cane. He owned over 40,000 acres of land and 800 slaves.

In 1840, Nutt marries Julia Augusta Williams in Natchez, Mississippi and over the next 23 years they go on to have 11 children, not all of whom make it to adulthood.

The Nutts decide to build a home for their blossoming family and in 1860 work starts on a six-story, 30,000 square feet mansion designed by Samuel Sloan of Philadelphia.

Called Longwood, the house is the largest and most elaborate of the octagon houses built in the US, as well as being one of the finest surviving examples of what’s known as an Oriental Revival style residence that was popular in mid-19^thcentury America.

Eighteen months into construction and the exterior of the Oriental Villa is largely complete when rising tensions over the Civil War halts work as the workmen return home to the North. The home’s interior is left unfinished except for the basement of the home and has remained in this state ever since.

Longwood is the largest octagonal house in America and is listed as a National Historic Landmark. Pictured above is the front of the house.

 

Longwood was the last burst of southern opulence before the Civil War brought the cotton barons’ dominance to an end. Longwood survived decades of neglect and near abandonment to become one of the most popular attractions in Natchez! Pictured above is a view of the house from another angle.