Editor’s note: The original version of this article incorrectly identified the mission of Auburn Antebellum Home. It is a volunteer preservation group. We regret the error and are happy to set the record straight.

NATCHEZ — The president of a local volunteer preservation group asked the Natchez Board of Aldermen Tuesday if they would consider providing a grant match for a project that he said would help tell Natchez’s history.

Clark Feiser, president of Auburn Antebellum Home, appeared before the aldermen during their finance committee meeting to ask if the city could plan to budget a match of $27,000 annually for three years for a Community Heritage Preservation Group grant to repair the detached kitchen and servants quarters at Auburn.

“We have found that Natchez owns only one of four such facilities in the state of Mississippi,” Feiser said. “All of the other plantation kitchens and servants quarters have either fallen down or been removed.”

“We want to restore the kitchen before it is in a situation where it cannot be restored.”

A servant — who also managed the kitchen in the years before Auburn was deeded to the city — cared for the house and outbuildings, Feiser said.

“We have a great story of black history to tell, but we can’t tell it properly without this kitchen and servants’ quarters,” he said.

“The city has a treasure here, and we need to maintain and keep it up.

The entire project would cost approximately $400,000, and Feiser said the grant program administrators had told him it would have to be applied for over three years.

The grant application will have to be in by the first of October.

The lease the Auburn Antebellum Home group has with the city dictates that 75 percent of the tourism dollars that the house generates stays with the house and the remaining 25 percent is directed to the city. In recent years, those funds have been expended on a number of repairs, Feiser said.

Auburn has heretofore been self-sufficient, he said.

“We have been able to operate this for all these years without any funding from the city, but it may just be time for us to come and ask for some help to do this restoration project,” he said.

Alderwoman Sarah Smith said she recently toured the property and would like to see it advertised more on the city website and used for functions. The proposed renovations fall in line with current tourism trends, she said.

“What tourists want to see right now is real life, and that is the servants quarters, the kitchens, how they lived, where they slept,” she said.

Mayor Butch Brown asked if the house has anything on it denoting that it is a city-owned property. Feiser said it has a plaque on one corner and the fact is noted on a brochure.

“We would like to see something there that identifies it as Auburn and it says it is a city-owned property, something that is very more definitive, that hits you in the face in a discreet way,” Brown said.

“I think (Auburn Antebellum Home) are great stewards, and I hope pubic properties can step up and help support them for the grant resolution.”

Auburn was donated to the city in 1911, and was leased to the Town and Country Garden Club — which was later renamed the Auburn Garden Club  — in 1972. The Auburn Garden Club was renamed to Auburn Antebellum Home, and membership was opened to men in 2009.