Everyone is invited to join the members of the Auburn Antebellum Home for our fifth annual Christmas Open House from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 9.

This year is a very special one because it marks the finale of Auburn’s 200th anniversary celebrations.

Admission is free, as costumed members will be offering tours and 1800-era refreshments provided by member Terri DeShong, a baker from Pennsylvania. Many of you may remember her from last year. In addition, we are very excited to be able to offer music by Richard Williams and Dana Lux of Baton Rouge throughout the afternoon.

Richard is an attorney with the Louisiana Supreme Court. He has served on the Louisiana Music Commission as vice president of the Baton Rouge Little Theatre. Dana is a music teacher in East Baton Rouge Parish, where she was selected as high school teacher of the year in 2011.

Richard and Dana performed at First Lady Laura Bush’s White House Christmas Open House in 2008, and we are extremely excited to be hosting them.

On the 200th birthday of Auburn, the members have taken on the gigantic project of restoring the detached kitchen and second-floor servant quarters with elevated walkway that attached the servant quarters to the main house. This building (ca. 1830) has been identified by the Mississippi Archives and History as one of only four such structures still standing in Mississippi.

There is much black history connected with this building, and we wish to tell its story, especially of George Davis, the main male house servant who stayed at Auburn after he was freed and taught to read and write by Stephen Duncan Jr.

This building should be saved for future generations to enjoy and to learn the history of Natchez, George Davis and the Duncan family who gave this beautiful house to the City of Natchez. Donations toward this project will be gratefully accepted and are tax-deductible.

The Christmas decorations are in place, there is a complete “redo” of the child’s room upstairs and there is ongoing work on window treatments in the upstairs parlor. Please come and let us show it all to you.

After all, Auburn belongs to the City of Natchez, which, of course, includes all of us.

 

J. Clark Feiser is the president of Auburn Antebellum Home.