Rosalie Mansion and Gardens — Attraction in Natchez

As a local guide who was scouting out locations to recommend to visitors, I unfortunately would not place Rosalie as a must-see. I cannot say that it offers much that other local sites do better. That is not to say that the house isn't a lovely periodic piece, merely that other places offer a better experience. The garden was well-kept but minimal. The house itself is small inside, and if you've seen anything of local architecture and culture then it offers more of the same. I would mention to prospective guests that you may experience long wait times for the tours (there is, of sadly, no option for self-guided exploration). Furthermore, the owners do not allow pictures inside. I would also note that the information presented on the (relatively expensive) tour placed little focus on the slaves who built and were forced to work in the house, and erred uncomfortably on the side of the slave owners. I would hope that this is updated sometime soon, so as to not further fall behind the knowledge and understanding of modern audiences and historians. While the location, house and grounds are perfectly nice as a simple date out, some quick research might present you with better options. I must thank the staff...

Lovely and informative guided tour of the inside of the home. The tour guide stated that she was new-ish to giving tours and said a couple of times while we were upstairs that she forgot to tell us something about the downstairs and a weird giggle, but as the tour begins on the front downstairs porch and ends on the upstairs rear porch, there is no opportunity to know what was missed. Everyone was friendly. Regular prices are a bit on the high side. I got there and a tour had just begun, and they were kind enough to let me get on that tour. I was able to get some shots of the outdoors. They had a few items for sale in the gift shop referring to the 200th anniversary of Lafayette making his tour around all of the states (that were part of the union at that time), but no reference as to what his connection is with the house. No photos allowed in the home.

At one family photo downstairs, the guide was talking about a family photo and that there were two boys and four girls and pointed out the infant and said it was a boy even though it was wearing a dress. It was a christening gown. It was not dressed as a girl. She kept making unpleasant faces as she was talking about it. Grow...

Typical plantation home tour. No egregious glorification of the era like I have seen elsewhere, but also no acknowledgement of any enslaved person presence on the property; the tour guide euphemistically referred to "servants". Interesting story about how the Confederate women in the house coexisted with the Union high officers and a good view of the river. Period bits and bobs are in display cases throughout, so it's less set up like it would be in the day and more like a house with room-appropriate furniture + a museum of dolls, sugar shakers, and so forth. The furniture is 90% original, which is very unusual for houses of this era. Not sure it's worth the high price, but I felt that way about every place we went. $20+ is a bit much for a 45 minute tour with little chance for free exploration except on the grounds and kitchen house.

Note that tours are only offered at the top of the hour. You wait on the porch about 5 minutes before and they open the doors. There's no signage and the site does not make this clear. Other houses have yours at the top and half of the hour so if you're trying to visit multiple houses plan...