The Natchez Convention & Visitors Bureau is your official resource for meetings, weddings, vacations and group tours. Located inside the Natchez Visitor Center, we are here to answer all your questions with insider information, from the best views of the Mississippi River to the best biscuits in the South. Give us a call, or order a free visitor guide to start planning your trip today. Y’all Come – and see for yourself.

Jefferson College, incorporated by an act of the first General Assembly of the Mississippi Territory in 1802, was named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, president of the United States and president of the American Philosophical Society. Territorial governor William C. C. Claiborne served as president of the college’s first Board of Trustees.

After years of initial financial difficulties, Jefferson College opened its doors on January 7, 1811, as a preparatory school, with fifteen students. Funds from Congress, the Legislature, and private citizens led the way to new prosperity, and by 1817 Jefferson College had become a full-fledged college; ten-year-old Jefferson Davis attended in 1818. By 1819 a new building, the East Wing, designed by prominent Natchez architect Levi Weeks, was complete.

In 1830 the college purchased the Methodist church building that had housed the 1817 Mississippi statehood convention, renovated it in 1832, and in 1839 completed construction of a new West Wing.

Designated a National Historic Landmark, Emerald is one of the largest mounds in North America. Covering eight acres, Emerald Mound measures 770 by 435 feet at the base and is 35 feet high. The mound was built by depositing earth along the sides of a natural hill, thus reshaping it and creating an enormous artificial plateau. Two smaller mounds sit atop the expansive summit platform of the primary mound. The larger of the two, at the west end, measures 190 by 160 feet and is 30 feet high. Several additional smaller mounds were once located along the edges of the primary mound summit, but were destroyed in the 19th century by plowing and erosion. Emerald Mound, built and used during the Mississippian period between 1250 and 1600 A.D.,was a ceremonial center for the local population, which resided in outlying villages and hamlets. Its builders were ancestors of the Natchez Indians. By the late 1600s, the Natchez had abandoned Emerald and established their capital at the Grand Village some 12 miles to the southwest.

Emerald Mound Site, near Natchez Trace Parkway, is about 10 miles northeast of Natchez, Mississippi (milepost 10.3). Exit parkway at Rte. 553 intersection; follow signs to mound, about 1 mile. Open to the public daily, free of charge.

Natchez National Historical Park is located in Natchez, Mississippi, near the intersection of US 61 and US 65/84.

European settlement of Natchez began with a French trading post in 1714. Control passed to Spain in 1779 and to the United States in 1798. In the decades before the Civil War, Natchez became a commercial, cultural, and social center of the South’s “cotton belt.” The city today represents one of the best preserved concentrations of significant antebellum properties in the United States. Within the park are Melrose, an excellent example of a planter’s home, and the home of William Johnson, a free African-American businessman, whose diary tells the story of everyday life in antebellum Natchez.

Park visitors can enjoy guided tours of the Melrose mansion and self-guided tours of grounds. Walking tours and living history events are also scheduled throughout the year.

The Natchez Visitor Reception Center is open Monday through Saturday from 8:00am to 5:00pm, Sunday from 9:00am to 4:00pm. Melrose is open daily from 8:30am to 5:00pm. Guided tours are offered on the hour from 9:00am to 4:00pm. The William Johnson House is open Thursday through Sunday from 9:00am until 5:00pm.

From National Historic Landmark properties to unassuming old houses that families have called home for generations, historic properties crowd the landscape of Natchez, making it one of the most architecturally and historically interesting places around.

Take a look here to learn more about Natchez Pilgrimage Tours.

From National Historic Landmark properties to unassuming old houses that families have called home for generations, historic properties crowd the landscape of Natchez, making it one of the most architecturally and historically interesting places around.

Take a look here to learn more about Natchez Pilgrimage Tours.

St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge, encompassing 24,442 acres, with a potential size of 34,256 acres, is located in Adams County in southwest Mississippi. The headquarters lies ten miles south of Natchez. The western refuge boundary is formed by the Mississippi River. The eastern boundary meanders along the loessal bluffs and the southern boundary is the Homochitto River.

Habitat on the refuge offers a myriad of ecological niches for wildlife. Cypress swamps and hardwood forests vegetated with oak, gum, elm, ash, cottonwood and pine comprise thirty percent of the refuge. Ten percent of the acreage is open water, while the remaining property consists of cleared land and batture land.

The refuge is open to the public year-round. Available activities include fishing, hunting, bird watching and hiking. A three-mile nature trail is located near the headquarters where visitors can enjoy a peaceful opportunity to view wildlife.

Refuge headquarters are open 7:30 am until 4:00 pm Monday – Friday. They are closed all Federal holidays. Refuge hours are sunup to sundown.

• 1 W. Sibley Farms Road
• Sibley, MS 39165
• Phone: (601) 442-6696
• Visit Website

The Natchez Trails are a combination of city streets and walkways which are dotted with kiosks depicting the history of the area in which you are walking. The trails run throughout the downtown area and along the bluff overlooking the river. Pedestrians and cyclists can share parts of the trails, and you can wind your way down to the edge of the mighty Mississippi River by way of the beautiful boardwalk which follows the contour of the bluff’s facade. Not only is it a great way to get some exercise, it is a great way to learn a lot about the abundant history of Natchez. The trail is wide enough atop the bluff to be shared by walkers and those just wanting to take a look at the river or watch a magnificent sunset over neighboring Louisiana. You can add an extra day to your stay just to spend it walking along the Natchez Trails.

You will find nature at its finest throughout the Homochitto National Forest and could spend hours hiking along the many creeks and trails that thread this enchanting woodland. The Clear Springs Recreational Area, consisting of a man-made lake, campground, picnic grounds, swim area, and two hiking trails. The longer of the two trails in the Recreation Area, Clear Springs Trail, is developing a reputation as one of the top three mountain-bike trails in Mississippi. Most campsites are secluded and either overlook the lake or are within an easy walk of the lake. Two CCC constructed pavilions on either side of the lake provide a comfortable place to enjoy the surrounding beauty and watch the wildlife. With a nice assortment of car, tent, recreational vehicle (RV), and motorhome-friendly camping, Clear Spring offers diverse collection of activities that will keep all entertained making it a good place for a family camping vacation.

A religious structure once stood atop the Temple Mound and housed bones of previous chiefs (called Suns). A sacred perpetual fire was kept in the Temple’s inner sanctum, symbolic of the sun, from which the royal family had descended.

The 128-acre Grand Village site features a museum, a reconstructed Natchez Indian House, and three ceremonial mounds. Two of the mounds, the Great Sun’s Mound and the Temple Mound have been excavated and rebuilt to their original sizes and shapes. A third mound, called the Abandoned Mound, has been only partially excavated. After three major archaeological excavations at the Grand village by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, no more digging investigations are planned for the site. The unexcavated areas of the site will be preserved intact, representing a sort of “time capsule” from the Natchez Indians’ past.

On the nature trail, native trees, flowers, and shrubs are identified. The Visitor Center offers interpretive exhibits and a gift shop featuring Native American crafts. A “Touch Table” invites children to handle tools and other objects the Indians employed.

Hours are Monday – Saturday 9:00 am until 5:00 pm, Sunday 1:30 pm until 5:00 pm.

• 400 Jefferson Davis Boulevard
• Natchez, MS 39120
• Phone: (601) 446-6502
• Visit Website

• 709 N. Union Street
• Natchez, MS 39120
• Phone: (601) 304-5378
• Visit Website
• E-Mail

Escape to quite times, comfort and history in Natchez, Mississippi. Come to The Devereaux Shields House in Natchez, one of the Queen Ann Victorian homes in a city filled with architectural magnificence. The Devereaux Shields House is an elegant two-story home set on exquisitely manicured gardens covered with Natchez crepe myrtles and camellias. The Devereaux Shields House, on the National Historic Register for significant homes, is a small Queen Ann Victorian Inn surrounded by carefully manicured gardens. The home was built by Ms. Devereaux Shields in 1893 and cared for over the years by only a few owners.