NATCHEZ &045; The Stockton House on North Wall Street was the gathering place Sunday for conversation between four women who had a chance meeting and a similar interest &045; historic houses.

Margaret Perkins, Catherine Ratcliffe, Cindy Bailey and Anna James stood in front of the house’s white picked fence and discussed Perkins’ move into the historic house in April.

Perkins, originally from Natchez, had been living in Charlotte, N.C., for the past 16 years and is now moving back to help with her family’s business, First Natchez Radio Group.

Perkins has taken over as general manager of 95 Country, a radio station her family owns. Perkins’ family also owns 97.3 Jamz, Christian Hits 105.1 and AM 1450, which is news talk and sports.

On Sunday, Perkins decided to go look at Stockton and then went to Choctaw to see the renovations. There she saw three women walking down the steps of Cherokee antebellum house across the street.

Perkins had remembered hearing that Cindy Bailey bought Cherokee last year &045; so she asked if one of the women was Bailey. To Perkins’ surprise, not only was she right about Bailey but one of the women, Ratcliffe, was the former owner of Stockton.

All four women, including James, who is manager of Longwood, reminisced as they walked to Stockton.

Ratcliffe lived in the home from 1974 to 1998 and raised her three boys there with her husband.

&uot;It was a gathering spot,&uot; said Ratcliffe. &uot;It was fun because it was right across from the auditorium.&uot;

Ratcliffe is now living in Routhland, which is on the Pilgrimage tour this spring. Routhland is part of the Orange tour, which begins at 9 a.m. today.

The current owners of Stockton, the Wisyanksis, contacted Perkins’ mother, Marie, to see if her daughter would be interested in buying the house.

Perkins said she had shopped around for houses in Natchez for several months but wasn’t finding what she wanted because of the price &045; or the money that would have to go into the house.

But Perkins said Stockton was exactly what she was looking for.

Perkins has been living mostly in Natchez for the past year and a half but sometimes commutes back to Charlotte until her house sells.