Arlington
Main St., Natchez, MSArlington is one of four important Federal Style villas which established the basic form for the later antebellum houses of the Natchez area. Of the four, Arlington is unequaled in the integrity of its setting and outbuildings and is unsurpassed in the retention of its mid-nineteenth century | interior decoration. The setting, including several trees | listed with the National Live Oak Society and azaleas of a variety known as the "Arlington Pink," retains the visual character of a nineteenth century, landscaped park. The house is finished with elaborate and especially fine exterior trim, similar to the 1806 designs of Asher Benjamin. The interior trim, especially the doorway architraves and the over-door panels, is marked by a similarly-high degree of design and execution. In addition to the carpets, draperies, furniture and lighting fixtures original to the house and dating from the Federal through the Rococo Revival Periods, the building houses an extensive collection of American and European decorative and fine arts documenting the antiquarian taste of a twentieth century collector.
According to tradition, the house was designed by John Hampton White, a native of New Jersey, and was constructed in 1816-1821 for his wife, Jane Surget White. The style of the house, however, allows a date of construction between 1806 and 1831. Therefore, it is possible that Arlington was built for Lewis Evans, a leading planter and a wealthy supporter of the Natchez Theatrical Association. Evans arrived in the Natchez area in 1788-90. acquiring the land on which Arlington stands for his plantation in 1806. In 1814 Evans sold the portion of the plantation containing his house to Jonathan Thompson, a land speculator, who in turn sold a portion containing extensive improvements (probably the house) to Mrs. Jane Surget White in December, 1818. Mrs. White was the daughter of Pierre Surget, a French emigrant who had founded one of the leading families of the area.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.