Rosalie Mansion is a National Historic Landmark near the center of Natchez, on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. The Mansion was a private residence for more than 100 years. Since 1938 the house and gardens have been owned by the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) and are open year round. Visitors may see the actual furniture, clothing, household possessions, garden plantings and family traditions of the family that long called Rosalie home.
Rosalie was built from 1820-1823 by Peter Little who came to Natchez as a young man from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Peter developed the Steam Circular saw which was the beginning of the lumber industry in the area. He established the first sawmill in the Natchez Territory and made his fortune from the vast tracts of woodlands in the Mississippi River Valley.
General Ulysses S. Grant and his Union troops occupied Natchez in 1863. Grant set up his temporary headquarters here at Rosalie. In one of the upstairs rooms of the mansion is the table on which Grant signed his consent to General William Tecumseh "War is Hell" Sherman to begin his diabolical March to the Sea - an atrocity which devastated much of the civilian populations of Georgia and the Carolinas - both black and white.
Karen and I took a late afternoon tour of Rosalie Mansion which was conducted by a professional docent. Although it was our fifth mansion tour of the day, we still learned something new and found it a very enjoyable and educational experience.
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