Belvidere

Belvidere is an outstanding example of an early Greek Revival cottage residence, whose unusual features and remarkable integrity set it apart from its contemporaries. The Greek Revival Style, which was introduced into Natchez in 1833 with the construction of the Agricultural Bank (now Britton and Koontz First National Bank), remained popular until after the Civil War. Belvidere, like The Burn, Richmond, Devereux, and the Van Court Town House, was one of the first residences constructed in this new Greek Revival Style. Although a cottage in form, the interior proportions of the house are grand, and the installation of the sliding doors in the hallway is unique for the Natchez area (see physical description). Also unusual are the "fake" jib panels of the windows which are located in the outer bays of the facade. Owned by the Henderson family and their descendants since 1868, Belvidere is that rare gem of an historic house that has never been restored. All interior doors retain their original graining; one mantel piece retains its original marbleizing; the original hardware survives intact; and the cast-iron fireplace surrounds, fenders, and covers remain also. The furnishings, for the most part, have been in the house since it was acquired in 1868 by John W. Henderson.

Belvidere was probably constructed about 1837 when the land upon which it formerly stood and presently stands was sold for building lots (Adams County Deed Book Y:504). The person for whom the house was constructed was either Samuel or Robert Patterson, or possibly both. Samuel and Robert Patterson were either brothers or father and son. A trace of the title to the property lists Robert Patterson and Hugh Lucas as initial joint purchasers (Deed Book FF:273) with the house having been lost due to mortgage foreclosure against Robert Patterson in 1842 (The Weekly Courier and Journal (Natchez), Jan. 13, 1842, p. 3). However, the following inscription is etched into a sidelight of the rear doorway, "Sam't Patterson/ 39/Spt 21 1831 possibly 7.". Although a local historian has listed the builder of Belvidere as Robert Samuel Patterson, perhaps to reconcile the discrepancy of the two names, Samuel and Robert Patterson were definitely two separate individuals. A Robert Patterson was listed as the administrator of the estate of Samuel Patterson in a probate document dated December 15, 1838 (Probate Box 21), and pieces of property were exchanged between a Robert and a Samuel Patterson in 1836 (Deed Book W:567). Samuel Patterson was a merchant and was listed as one of the early members of the Natchez Mechanical Society (D. Clayton James, Antebellum Natchez [Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968], p. 94).

In 1846, Belvidere became the residence of merchant John Coulson (Deed Book FF:474), who traded the house to John W. Henderson for The Cliffs Plantation in 1868 (Deed Book PP: 93-4). Belvidere's historical significance is derived principally from its association with the Henderson family, whose patriarch, John I, came to Natchez in 1787 and wrote the first book published in the Natchez territory. Three properties already listed on the National Register and one property submitted at the same time as Belvidere are associated with this outstanding Mississippi family. The Elms and Pleasant Hill were both built for John Henderson I; the Henderson-Britton House (Magnolia Hall) for John I's son Thomas; and The Cliffs Plantation for Thomas's son John W. John W. Henderson was born in Natchez in 1832 and died in 1916. During his long life, he was a planter, a Civil War hero, a merchant, county school superintendent, an ordained Presbyterian minister, and an author. He attained the rank of First Lieutenant in the Confederate Army and returned to Natchez after the war to abandon his planting career in favor of assuming the management of his late father's brokerage and mercantile firm. He later became the manager of the Natchez mercantile firm of Stockman and Newman. After the S. B. Newman & Company of New Orleans failed and forced the closing of the Natchez branch in 1880, Henderson became county superintendent of education, a position he held for thirty-four years (The Natchez Democrat, Aug. 19, 1916, p. 2).

Belvidere was moved to the northeast corner of its fourteen-acre tract in 1927 to make room for the construction of a new Natchez high school (now Margaret Martin Junion High School). As a result of the move, the original outbuildings and a one-story frame wing attached to a large 40 by 40 foot, brick dining room were destroyed. The original site was on a hill, but the house now sits on a flat lot about sixty feet from Homochitto Street. The present owners and residents of Belvidere are Ellen Henderson Goodell and her uncle Greenebury Kelly, great-granddaughter and grandson of John W. Henderson. Mr. Kelly has conscientiously recorded in writing and sketches his memories of Belvidere (room use, gardens, fences, walks, cisterns, outbuildings, and daily family life) before and after the 1927 move.