photo by Submitted photo

Students visit the Manship House museum on a field trip.

Manship House can be a break from summer

By Brian Reynolds (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Wednesday, June 11, 2008

NATCHEZ — To take a break from the hot summer days of Natchez and get into the hot summer days of 1888 Jackson, you need look no further than the Manship House Museum.

Marilynn Jones, museum director said Charles Henry Manship, who built the house in 1857 was the Civil War mayor of Jackson and a middle class, decorative painter.

“Because he was not a rich person I think people can relate to it more than some of the grand palatial homes,” Jones said.

The Manship House has been restored to its 1888 décor and is decorated differently for each season, Jones said. The house is currently in its summer dress.

“In the days before air conditioning people did a lot to make their homes more comfortable,” Jones said.

The heavy draperies were taken down to allow more air flow and straw matting was put in place of heavy rugs to help cool the house. The beds were covered with mosquito netting to protect sleepers from bugs. The furniture was also protected from the hot weather.

“They would put slipcovers on furniture to protect it from insects and sweaty people,” Jones said.

The museum puts on various programs throughout the year to highlight different parts of the Manships’ lives. The current program is “Manships Abroad,” which tells the story of the family’s trip to Europe.

“Travel was a lot more difficult than it is today, but in a lot of ways it’s the same,” Jones said. “People will go to see the same things that Mr. Manship saw over 100 years ago.”

Manship’s travel journal is on display, along with several of the souvenirs the family brought back, including to postcards from Brussels.

“He wrote about those two places in his diary, so it’s really unique that we have those photos,” Jones said.

Phyllis Seawright, a drama professor at Mississippi College has taken her 10-year-old son and college students and said it is well worth the trip.

“I’ve been to a couple of other historic homes throughout the country and I just think it’s a wonderful house,” she said. “When you walk through the house itself it’s just like you are stepping into the lives of the Manships.

She also said it is a nice contrast from the homes in Natchez.

“When you look at it you just don’t think antebellum because the style just looks more gothic,” Seawright said. “It has the things about everyday life that an upper middle class family would have had.”

The museum located at 420 East Fortification St. in Jackson and is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. More information can be found at http://mdah.state.ms.us/museum/manship.html.

The museum is 116 miles from Natchez. The drive is 1 hour 57 minutes, according to Mapquest.