Dunleith sits on a 40 acre estate which includes an original 1790s carriage house, dairy barn, poultry house, greenhouse and a three story brick dependency. The main mansion has a Greek revival design and includes 26 Tuscan columns built of brick and stucco. Porches surround the entire building on the first and second floors, the only house in Mississippi to have such a feature. The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974. Dunleith has been used as the backdrop for the films Huckleberry Finn and Showboat.
Dunleith stands on the site originally occupied by "Routhland", a house built by Job Routh and his wife during the 18th century. Their daughter, Mary, a widow at only 15 years old, took Charles Dahlgren as her second husband and inherited the home. In 1855 the original house was struck by lightening and burnt to the ground. After this devastating fire, Charles Dahlgren, son in law of Job Routh, built a new house, which is the house that still stands today. The house was given the Scottish name Dunleith by its second owner, Alfred Vidal Davis, who bought it in 1859 from Charles Dahlgren. In 1886, the great house passed into the hands of John Beibert Carpenter, who bought it for $22,000. While living at Dunleith, John served as president of the Natchez Oil Company, the Natchez and Vidalia Packet Company and the Natchez Cotton Exchange. Five generations of his family made Dunleith their home.
In 1976, William F Heins purchased the property and started operating it as a bed and breakfast. In 1999, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Worley and their son, Michael, purchase the house. The Worley's completed an extensive renovation including the addition of 10 guestrooms, refurbished office space, and a remodel of the greenhouse. The Worley's also reconstructed the original Carriage House building into Dunleith's first eatery, The Castle Restaurant and Pub. In 2019, the J Collection purchased Dunleith and began massive renovations. During renovations, the house was closed to the public, but upon completion of these renovations in 2021, the house is once again open to the public.
My Mom and I visited the home as part of our southern plantation tour in 2016, prior to its most recent ownership change and renovations. Please note that my pictures and experiences are from 2016, and things may be different now due to the new ownership and renovation.
When we visited, we tried to book a night in the dairy barn, but unfortunately it was already booked so we were unable to stay. We were extra disappointed when we visited and saw how cute the dairy barn is. We instead settled for a tour of the first floor of the mansion, followed by lunch in the restaurant in the carriage barn.
The house now operates as a bed and breakfast, offering modern amenities with the grander of days gone by. If you stay in the main house, the guestrooms all have 14 ft high ceilings and traditional draperies. Rooms also offer King or Queen size beds, luxury bedding, air baths, complimentary wi-fi and keurig coffee makers. Guests can also enjoy a business center, pool, bocce ball and croquet courts, and onsite restaurant and bar. Our guide told us that guests were encouraged to think of the house as their own home, and encouraged to make use of all of the public rooms. He said they offered tea on the porches and had nightly cocktail hour in the parlor, often with a pianist playing the antique piano. Dunleith offers southern hospitality at it's finest.
Since we were not guests of Dunleith, sadly our tour only covered the first floor. The second floor was open to guests of the B&B only. Despite that, we enjoyed our tour and it was worth every penny. We had an amazing tour guide who was very knowledgeable on the house, and we enjoyed being the only 2 people on our tour, which gave it the feel of a private tour. Both of us found the most impressive part of the interior of the home was the hand painted wallpaper in the dining room. It told the story of the 4 seasons as it wrapped around the dining room. It was stunning, and hard to believe that it had all been painted by hand. The stunning gasolier fixtures throughout the house were also impressive.
Although the dining room was the most memorable, the certainly does not mean that the rest of the house was unimpressive. The sheer size and scale of the house is breathtaking, along with the many "modern conveniences" that were built into the home at the time. Including a cooling system and gasoliers. It was fun to hear about how the house builders developed a system to ensure that the house was kept cool in the hot southern summers, because we are from the North and antebellum homes here are built with keeping the house warm in the cold winter months, so it was interesting to hear how the builders had to try to do the reverse at Dunleith.
Once we completed our tour of the inside of the home, we were encouraged to walk the grounds and to enjoy the front porch. We were there on a lovely summer day, and it was the perfect weather for enjoying the grounds. We took some time and sat in the recliners on the inviting porch to just take in the feel of the house and the beautiful grounds. We then decided to walk the grounds to look at the out buildings, and admire the landscaping around the house. Despite being inside Natchez city limits, the 40 acres gave the house a private and country feel. It was easy to relax and enjoy nature, and the stunning views of the home.
When visiting Dunleith, seriously consider eating at the restaurant in the carriage barn called The Castle. The food was excellent and the atmosphere was amazing. I would describe the feel as upscale casual. It definitely wasn't fast food dining, but we still felt comfortable going in our casual clothes for lunch. *Travel Tip: When we visited, if you ate at the restaurant, you received complimentary tickets to tour the house. Unfortunately we did not know this, and no one at the house told us when we purchased our tour tickets. It was not until we were paying for our lunch that our waitor asked if we wanted him to stamp our dining bill for free entry to the house. Good reminder to always ask if there are any deals before purchasing tickets to tour a historic house!
The site is also set up to be an event rental with a full catering kitchen available. The catering kitchen is in the area of the home that was the original kitchen, with slave quarters above it. The house was a very popular wedding & event venue, and I can only imagine that popularity has only increased with the new renovations.
Dunleith is certainly on my list of must see again homes, and this time I plan on staying as a guest to get the full experience of the house.
For more information on the house, or how you can plan your stay, you can visit their website at dunleithhistoricinn.com
*All photos in this post are my own, please do not use without permission. copyright 2016
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