Road Trip, Part 5

This morning we awakened to the heat of Mississippi and dropped by one last plantation home before heading out from Natchez. This time we saw one of the oldest homes in the town – Ellicott on the Hill, circa 1790. Which is on a hill – but is not named for the man who lived there.

For this home comes with a history. Mr. Andrew Ellicott was sent by George Washington to Natchez to survey the 31st parallel – the line that was supposed to be our border with Spain. (It still is the line of the western Florida panhandle.) It was on this piece of property that the first American flag flew in the Lower Mississippi Valley. The flag contained fifteen starts and fifteen stripes. With the admission of Tennessee into the Union, the flag reverted back to the thirteen stripes we know today with only a star added for each new state.

Mr. Ellicott did not remain in Mississippi. And so the house was built by another. Since that time, it has passed through many hands, but it has not been changed since 1801 when some of the open rooms were enclosed in order to make room for a growing family. It remains a unique mix of Colonial times and the Southern culture. For while it has many of the qualities I know in my New England homes, it is not like anything you’ll see up there. It was built before cotton became king – tobacco and popcorn were the crops of choice. In fact, the children would eat popcorn for breakfast. They mixed it with honey and milk: 18th century cereal!

Ellicott on the Hill