Windsor Plantation ruins: Enjoyed for a short time
- Jay Brothers
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
Off Hwy 552 Natchez, MS
Circa 1859-1861. Huge 4-story mansion with various styles
Iconic place of originally twenty-nine columns make the remains of the enormous mansion. Now twenty-three full columns and five partial. Near Alcorn State University
Smith Coffee Daniell II (1826-1861) and Catherine Skinner Freeland Williams(1839-1903)(m.1849) built the mansion. The Daniell family had a long, illustrious linage reaching far back into English history. Catherine's father was Thomas Freeland who had established Retreat Plantation. The Freeland family grew to be wealthy landowners including Catherine's uncle who built Oakland Plant. in 1817. The Daniells were a wealthy planter family with extensive holdings in Louisiana (Tensas), Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta (Bruinsburg, Windsor). It had 5 stories, topped by an observatory - the largest mansion ever built at the time. Windsor had over 3,200 acres about it as well as over 18,000 acres across the river. Daniell died of yellow fever; Catherine remarried to widower Dr. William G. Williams, a PA native.
After the Civil War, the family leased portions of their land for needed income.
Fire destroyed the home in 1890.
After Catherine died, their daughter Priscilla (1850-1932) inherited the site. She wed Joseph Moore Magruder in 1888. Then, the ruins passed to Priscilla's niece Katherine Daniell Magruder. In 1971, the family led by Thomas Daniell Magruder owned the ruins and land and got it recognized by the National Register of Historic Places. The family maintained land ownership until 1974 when they donated the 2 acres of the ruins to the state of Mississippi.
It is now administered by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The Windsor name came from the wind rustling through the numerous columns. NR 1971
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