The members of Auburn Antebellum Home will be hosting our 11th annual Christmas Open House from 1:30-4 p.m. Sunday with free tours, 1812-era baked goods by Terri DeShong from Pennsylvania, and music by Burnley Cook.

I am sure that many Natchez residents have not been in Auburn in many years, if ever. Now would be a great time during the Christmas season to visit and enjoy Auburn. Come join us  Sunday and bring your camera because photography is welcome. This year we will be featuring Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, so parents bring your children and bring your camera. They will be located in the newly restored detached kitchen, so you will have a chance to view the restoration.

Auburn was built by Levi Weeks for Attorney Lyman Harding, who had moved to Natchez from Boston and was completed in 1812. It was the first mansion to be built in Natchez. Weeks wrote to his friend that “this is the first house in the Territory on which was ever attempted any of the orders of architecture.”

Attorney Harding died in 1820, and the second owner of the house was Dr. Stephen A. Duncan, who had moved to Natchez from Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Catherine, moved into Auburn around 1821 and lived there until 1863 when they left Auburn by a Union gunboat which conveyed them north and eventually to New York City. Dr. Duncan died in New York in 1867.

Stephen Duncan Jr. elected to stay at Auburn and lived off and on there until his death in 1910. His heirs decided to donate Auburn, all the furnishings, and 210 acres to the City of Natchez with the stipulation that the land would be made into a public park in memory of the Duncan’s, thus we have Duncan Park. The second stipulation was that the house and land remain together. Because of its requirement, the City decided to sell all the furnishings thinking that the house would be easier to take care of if it were empty.

The City made an apartment upstairs for the caretaker of the park and his family to live, but downstairs remained virtually empty and became a play house for the children of the City. In 1972, the Town and Country Garden Club (later to be named the Auburn Garden Club) set up a lease with the City to restore the house and open it for tours and operated a Bed and Breakfast around 20 years to earn money to furnish Auburn with period furniture. Over the years, a few of the Duncan original pieces of furniture and fixtures have been returned to Auburn. We would be very interested in acquiring more.

In 2009, the members of the Auburn Garden Club petitioned the City and the State for a name change and new bylaws. The Auburn Antebellum Home is the new name with a focus on Auburn preservation. We are a small group of male and female volunteers who still lease the house from the City and manage it. If anyone wishes to join our group, please contact Auburn at 601-442-5981 and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Our upcoming project will be to repair the main house and the severe water damage that has occurred. A grant has been received from Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the bids for the work will be opened in January 2017, and weather permitting work, should begin soon thereafter. The City of Natchez and the Auburn Antebellum will be providing matching money.

Hope to see everyone at the Open House Sunday because this is not only the city’s house but all of the citizens’ house.

J. Clark Feiser is the president of the Auburn Antebellum Home.