NATCHEZ — Historic costumes came out of the closets and smiles flooded the Miss-Lou as the first of two weeks of pilgrimage began Saturday.

“I always have fun during pilgrimage, so I always look forward to it,” Donna Martello said, standing in a period dress in one of the rooms at Auburn.

But Martello apparently wasn’t the only one looking forward to pilgrimage this year, and some pilgrims showed up two hours early for the first tour.

“We have had an absolutely great day,” said Phyllis Feiser, a member of the Auburn Antebellum Home group, which manages the city-owned property.

The remarks she heard from pilgrims were positive, Feiser said.

“The people who come appreciate the work done in the old homes,” she said. “They like to see that they have been maintained, and how they have been maintained.”

During pilgrimage, the owners of Natchez’s historic, antebellum properties open them for tours. Natchez has two pilgrimage seasons, one in the spring and one in the autumn.

Oregonian Marsha Duncan has been working in Baton Rouge recently, and as she made her way to the door for the first tour she said it was her first trip into Natchez.

“We have been going around seeing all of the houses and doing all sorts of touristy things,” she said. “It’s beautiful.”

Meanwhile, Natchez transplant Ramona Savage said that, while she has been on pilgrimage before, she hasn’t been to every house.

Standing at the top of the free-standing spiral staircase in Auburn, she looked down and said she wished the staircase wasn’t roped off.

“I would love to be able to walk down those stairs,” she said.

And while Arkansan Billy Bass said his pilgrimage tour was more to have something to do Saturday than anything else, it was reinforcing old interests.

“I like history anyway,” he said.

Pilgrimage will last through Oct. 10.