NATCHEZ — Katie-Grace Edgin wants to be a storyteller for a city that has nearly 300 years of history to share.

Telling those stories to visitors from around the world, Edgin said, is key to reaffirming tourism as a major industry for Natchez and the reason the Atlanta native is studying to become a certified tour guide.

“I think Natchez is just a gem, and it’s imperative we do what we can do to keep tourism alive,” she said. “People should be talking about Natchez like they do Charleston (S.C.) or Savannah (Ga.).”

The desire to help tell Natchez’s stories led Edgin to begin the process of becoming a certified tour guide with the city — a role occupied by only 12 others.

Edgin moved to Natchez five years ago after marrying native Richard Edgin III.

But Edgin had been introduced to Mississippi years earlier when, on a whim, she applied to attend to the University of Mississippi.

During her time at Ole Miss, Edgin became interested in Southern studies, art history and art education — all things she thought could be used to eventually work at a museum or something dealing with antiquities.

Her plans took a slight detour in 2007 when she met Richard and shifted course when they married in 2009 and moved to Natchez.

Edgin got her first introduction to Natchez’s storied antebellum homes when first visiting her in-laws, who own Rip Rap — a home that dates back to the 1800s.

The house is one of many in Natchez that opens its doors once a year to visitors during Fall Pilgrimage.

“I started helping out with the tours at Rip Rap and just started listening and learning everything I could,” Edgin said. “I would listen to all the hostesses and pick up everything I could from them and then sort of make it into my own style.”

As a member of the Natchez Garden Club, Edgin was also charged with being a hostess at Magnolia Hall, one of the antebellum homes the club owns and operates.

The more Edgin learned about the history of Natchez, the more she wanted to be the one telling its stories.

“After a few years of hosting at the houses, I starting thinking that I really wanted to be a guide,” she said. “The story of Natchez is such an interesting one, and I really think it’s one people need to hear.”

The difference in being a host or hostess at an antebellum home and a tour guide, Edgin explained, is the ability and opportunity to lead entire tours as a city-certified guide.

Tour companies contact the city’s tourism branch seeking guides, Edgin said, and the city turns to its certified guides to lead the tours, which often arrive in large numbers on buses.

“So you’ll get on the bus, for example, and point out everything to them as they go along from house to house or wherever they’re going,” she explained.

“You really have to know a lot about everything, because someone might ask you, ‘What kind of tree is that?’ and you need to know.”

The certification process is handled through the two garden clubs — Natchez Garden Club and Pilgrimage Garden Club — and then finalized by the city.

Each club has members of a tour guide committee that are in charge of helping train those interested in becoming a guide and administering the certification test.

Carole LeMay is the guide chairwoman for the Natchez Garden Club and has been preparing Edgin to take the 85-question test. Edgin can only miss two answers and still pass the test.

“She has a great deal of information to learn, because all of these guides have to know this to do a tour successfully,” said LeMay, who has been a certified tour guide for 20 years. “(Edgin) is very personable and has a dynamic personality, and I think she’ll make a great guide.”

If Edgin passes her certification test in a few weeks, she will become the youngest certified tour guide, which is something that initially led her to the position.

“It’s imperative that we get more young people involved in tourism, so that everyone who has been doing such a great job all these years will have others to pass the torch to,” Edgin said. “I think it’s a very important position, and something I’ll be proud to do.”