Natchez is the place to go and stay. The National Active Retirement Association picked Natchez as a “worth a look” retirement destination among southern cities in a recent publication.

The publication ranked cities based on educational opportunities, quality of life, income and housing, cultural and historical offerings and other amenities attractive to current and future retirees.

Receiving such recognition is pay off for the efforts of the Natchez Retiree Partnership and other local organizations Natchez Retiree Partnership Director Roy Winkworth said.

“We’ve been attracting retirees to Natchez since the program started in 1994,” he said.

Part of what makes Natchez stand out is the numerous opportunities that retirees and potential retirees have in the city, Winkworth said.

“There is certainly a lot of history, here and the fact that tourism is a large part of what goes on here is a plus,” he said. “Activities that were originally designed for tourists are great for people who live here too.”

And sometimes people come to town as tourist, but return to be residents. That was the case for Carl and Sue Ann Wilt who retired to Natchez from Lansing, Mich., in 2002.

The Wilts had been to town several times for Pilgrimage and couldn’t stop coming back, so they decided that when the time came to retire, they would do so in Natchez.

“We retired on July 24 and the moving truck pulled out on July 27,” Sue Ann Wilt said. “We bought a house several years before we retired, so we were ready.”

Originally the antebellum houses drew the Wilts to Natchez, but the people are what made them want to stay.

“We started meeting people and everyone was so genuine and welcomed us with open arms,” Wilt said. “It is just a very inviting place.”

Sue Ann said she and her husband were ready for small town life after living in a large city for many years. But living in Natchez also affords them the opportunity to travel to large cities that are close by if they get the hankering.

“We are near enough to Baton Rouge or Jackson if we wanted to go,” she said. “But we were ready to enjoy the things that we didn’t have time to do when we were working.”

Wilt said she and her husband were so sure about moving to Natchez that they had a personalized car tag that read “Natchez” while they were still living in Michigan.

“This was our dream,” she said. “And every time we opened the garage door in the morning, we knew what we were working for.”

Some retirees didn’t travel as far as the Wilts, but still enjoy the Natchez lifestyle just the same.

Walter Harrison retired to Natchez with his wife from Greenville.

Harrison said while his wife’s roots are in Natchez, he has found a comfortable spot, too. But Harrison wasn’t surprised at how much he has enjoyed retiring in Natchez.

“We would travel here often from Greenville, and I always told my wife when we would retire, we would retire in Natchez,” he said. “Natchez is a very comfortable place.”

One thing that has made it comfortable for Harrison is the number of activities and organizations he has been able to become involved with.

He is a member of Veteran of Foreign Wars post, Knights of Columbus and a volunteer rifle instructor for 4-H.

The Harrisons retired six years ago and haven’t regretted the decision at all,” he said.

“The cost of living here is very low compared to other places,” he said. “And the proximity to larger cities makes travel easy.”

There is one thing about Natchez that compares to large cities Harrison said, the food.

“I’ve traveled a good bit and when you travel you like to treat yourself to a nice meal,” Harrison said. “But we have some first class restaurants here in Natchez. They compare to what you could get in a metropolitan city.”