Magnolia Vale
- Jay Brothers
- May 7
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 17
29 Learned's Mill Rd. Natchez, MS
Original circa 1830 - 2-story wood & stucco/ rebuilt after fire in 1946-50
Magnolia Vale was built in the old, original part of Natchez called “Natchez Under-the-Hill.” This mansion is surrounded by a beautiful garden.
Andrew Brown (1789-1871), Scottish native, arrived in Natchez in the late 1820s. He found work at a sawmill which was on the Magnolia Vale property. Purchasing the sawmill in 1828, he expanded the business as a lumber businessman and had one of the largest businesses in the Old Southwest - Andrew Brown & Son. He then bought the entire property and built a home on the northern end. Brown became a director of the Mississippi Rail Road Co. in 1837 which was head by his business partner Stephen Duncan and owned the steamboat the Hail Columbia. Brown designed and made formal gardens that became known as Brown's Gardens.
A tornado in 1840 damaged his home, and he rebuilt the home as a 2-story frame home Greek Revival style and double tire gallery. Brown was married three times: Elizabeth Key Brown (1800-1853)(m.1817): Charlotte Stewart White Brown (1800-1837)(m.1827); and Louisa C. Woodward Brown (1804-1869)9m.1854). He was a flower lover and created a garden which became nationally famous. By 1860, Brown family was one of the wealthiest in Natchez.
His daughter Elizabeth Christie "Lizzie" Brown Learned (1842-1919) inherited the property. She wed her stepbrother Rufus Frederick Learned (1834-1924) in 1868. Learned took over Brown & Son and renamed it R.F. Learned Lumber Co. and expanded the New Orleans operations. He also invested in banking, planting, and in steamboats. The Learned family continued to add to the fortune that Brown had started. Later, he helped found the Natchez Cotton Mills and served as president; president of the Britton & Koontz bank; the Natchez Ice Company and the Natchez & Bayou Sayre Packet Company.
Then their son Andrew Brown Learned (1869-1961) got it. He was wed twice: Elizabeth Pilcher Yerger Learned (1872-1927)(m.1897) and Pearl Rawlins Learned (1876-1954). He continued and succeeded with the varied family businesses. In 1946, the original home burned down. Learned rebuilt the home like the original and was done by 1950.
Magnolia Vale remained in the family with his grandson Howard Bell Peabody, Jr. (1919-2003) and his wife Margaret Pipes Peabody. Magnolia Vale was the sole mansion built below the bluffs - as such, the land fell away and ruined the gardens over time. The mansion burned down in 1946. The lumber mill continued in family ownership; it was finally closed and razed in the 1960s.
In the 1990s, the family finally sold the property out of the family to David and Betty Paradise. Paradise owned a major Taco Bell franchisee group. In 2002, the Paradise couple bought the dilapidated historic Ritz Theatre in Natchez and then donated it to the Historic Natchez Foundation.
In 2025, Ken Kochey and Sarah Wellons Laird are owners. He is a photographer.
The Mississippi River has steadily eroded the land in front of Magnolia Vale so that the home has little front yard.
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