by Sabrina Simms

NATCHEZ — A local antebellum house is garnering attention after being featured in a recent article about the 50 best places to visit in the United States.

Bestproducts.com, a website devoted to recommendations for everything from food to travel, recently included Natchez on the list of places to see.

The web-only article features Brandon Hall Plantation in north Adams County as one of the can’t miss places in the area.

Owner Kaiser Harriss said Brandon Hall is unique from other antebellum houses such as Stanton Hall because of its isolated location, which he said makes it more authentic.

“We can be a little bit hard to find, but that’s one of the things that makes us special and unique,” he said.

Harriss said he was surprised when one of the travel writers who visited the house featured it in the write up.

“I had no idea that they were going to do that. It was a really big honor,” he said.

With the help of Jennifer Ogden Combs, executive director of the Natchez Convention Promotion Commission, four travel writers visited the house last November.

“I thought maybe they would casually write something here,” Harriss said, “They didn’t really tell me what they were here for.

“I treated them just like any other guests,” he said.

Unlike the grand mansions in downtown Natchez, Brandon Hall was a working plantation. The Brandons were harvesters of cotton, sugarcane, and indigo and owned 700 slaves.

Harriss said many architectural features were kept true to the original design when the house was renovated in the mid-1980s, apart from closets, bathrooms, and the closed in porch.

Harriss said his favorite piece that is part of the original home is a gas chandelier.

“In the 1850s (Brandon Hall) was a half a day’s carriage ride from downtown Natchez. There were only two gas plants in the United States, one in Philadelphia and one in Natchez. There’s no way there would’ve been a gas line,” Harriss said.

“What is interesting … is that, when the house was built, it was plumbed for natural gas … and were able to just pipe it through. That is the equivalent today as having your house wired as a smart house.”

The chandelier now hangs in the music parlor that once served as a business office.

When talking about the house with guests, Harriss said he enjoys pointing out what makes the house a unique getaway.

“I like to talk about what I don’t have,” Harriss said, “I don’t have a gas station across the street. I don’t have electrical wires. There’s not a lot of signage. I don’t have a lot of road noise. There’s not a lot of electrical or mechanical equipment.”