Thankfully, more than $300,000 in state grant funding will be coming to Natchez soon to help repair two of the city’s most public antebellum mansions.

Grants made available through the Mississippi Department of Archives and History will offer more than $100,000 to the City of Natchez’s own mansion, Auburn, which is adjacent to Duncan Park and more than $200,000 to Magnolia Hall on Pearl Street. The Preservation Society of Ellicott Hill, the Natchez Garden Club’s nonprofit fundraising arm, owns Magnolia Hall.

Natchez should offer a large “thank you” to MDAH’s leadership for the grant money and the other support it receives.

A few years ago, the city got itself in hot water with MDAH after the city demolished a state protected site on the bluff without first gaining permission from MDAH.

Apparently, MDAH’s leadership cares more about the state’s historic buildings than it does about getting retribution on the city’s past blunders.

Upkeep on antebellum structures can be outrageously expensive, which is why such grants are helpful to the owners.

The volunteer organizations — both the garden clubs as well as the City of Natchez, in the case of Auburn — do admirable jobs in keeping the historical properties in good shape, but can always use more money.

We’ve long wished the City of Natchez would allocate more funds to Auburn for its operations. It’s a beautiful house, but could be even more magnificent if the city invested more into it.