The venerable Willard Hotel, standing tall only a couple of blocks from the White House and the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., is fully booked for Inauguration weekend.

Checking on room availability by way of the hotel’s beautiful Web site, I found only a plain, no-nonsense reply to my request for reservations starting Thursday and going through the weekend. &uot;No rooms available.&uot;

President George W. Bush will be sworn into office on Saturday. It will be a big day in our capital city, where throngs will gather to celebrate.

At the Willard, one of the oldest hotels in the city, the guest lists throughout the past 150 years or more have included some of the most prominent politicians and most famous celebrities in our country’s history.

In fact, the Willard lays claim to having entertained every President since Franklin Pierce in the early 1850s right on up to outgoing President Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

President Abraham Lincoln is said to have conducted meetings with his staff in front of the fireplace in the hotel lobby. The famous singer Jenny Lind, known as the Swedish Nightingale, stayed overnight at the Willard.

During the Civil War, Nathaniel Hawthorne described the crowd encountered at the Willard saying that you might &uot;exchange nods with governors of sovereign states, elbow illustrious men, and tread on toes of generals&uot; as well as meet all manner of &uot;inventors, artists, poets.&uot;

Inauguration week guests at the Willard will step into a newly renovated hotel, splendid in color, motifs and design. What most of the guests will not know is that a native son of Natchez oversaw the $14-million project to give the hotel its spiffy but stately new look.

Stephen Perkins, son of Marie and Sammy Perkins, has turned his architectural talents to hotels throughout the world, putting the modern-day traveler’s expectations into elegant but useful lobbies, suites, office spaces and bathrooms.

In an article appearing recently in Washingtonian magazine, Stephen described some of his experiences in hotel design, done in partnership with Deborah Lloyd Forrest, an interior designer, through their Washington firm, ForrestPerkins.

Stephen studied architecture at UCLA. After apprenticeships under several well-known architects, he held teaching positions at Columbia, Princeton and Tulane, among other universities.

He and his wife, Martha, who is a lawyer, have three children. A daughter is a student at Princeton University; a son is a student at Haverford College; and another son is at St. Albans.

Indeed, Stephen is a son of Natchez for whom we should feel delight and pride.

We hear talk of all the talent Mississippi loses when young folks go out into the world to seek new opportunities.

But, in truth, accomplishments made by successful professionals such as Stephen and so many others shine a light back upon Natchez and Mississippi, where talent never has been in short supply.

Of course I will not be attending the Inauguration. And if I did, I probably could not afford to stay at the fabulous Willard Hotel.

However, if I were there, I would take a stroll down the lobby known as Peacock Alley and I’m quite sure I’d admire the new designs; and I’d nudge a passer-by, maybe some big celebrity, and say, &uot;Someone from Natchez, Mississippi, did this. Isn’t it wonderful?&uot;

Joan Gandy is special projects director of The Democrat. She can be reached by calling (601) 445-3549 or by e-mail at

joan.gandy@natchezdemocrat.com.