Down a windy, barely marked road in Claiborne County, near Alcorn State University, stands one of Mississippi’s most famous ruins.

The tall columns climbing into the sky at Windsor Ruins are well known to many people in our area either through personal experience or photographs.

The house (ca. 1861) burned in 1890. Since then the ruins are the only remains of the once stately mansion.

At least 40 years before Windsor was completed, however, miles to the south in Natchez, Arlington was constructed. The stately federal-style mansion stood as an amazing example of early Natchez architecture until a devastating fire in 2002.

Fortunately, the non-profit Historic Natchez Foundation managed to convince the owner to allow a new roof to be placed on the building in an attempt to stabilize and save what remained. The owner footed the bill, but HNF organized the work.

Since then the house has been a location for lots of suspicious activity and little if anything has been done to protect or preserve the house’s history.

The City of Natchez has wisely taken the owner to court in an attempt to either get the house restored or encourage the owner to sell the property to someone who will restore it.

Critics will argue that the city has no place in making such decisions. We disagree.

The city not only has a right to move to protect the history of the city, but the obligation to get the property cleaned up so that it doesn’t become more of a public nuisance.

We applaud the city’s diligence in what is bad set of circumstances for the city, the property owner and ultimately the public history that remains in the house.