Overnight Stay Booking Required
Overnight stay at Dunleith
Luxury overnight lodging in the 1856 main house or estate outbuildings on a 40-acre property, with access to The Castle restaurant on-site.
- Duration:
- 12 hr
Haunted Hotel / Inn
Dunleith Historic Inn
1856 Natchez Greek Revival mansion famous for its encircling 26 Tuscan columns and for the legend of 'Miss Percy,' whose phantom harp is said to drift from upstairs rooms.
84 Homochitto St, Natchez, MS 39120
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Overnight rates typically run $200-$400 per night; restaurant and event pricing varies.
Access
Limited Access
Historic mansion with stairs; some ground-floor and outbuilding rooms more accessible than upper floors.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1856 · National Historic Landmark (1974) · Only surviving Mississippi antebellum mansion with a fully encircling 26-column Tuscan colonnade · Site of the earlier Routh family Routhland estate
The Dunleith site was first occupied by Routhland, a late-1700s house built by Job Routh and his wife on what became a 40-acre estate. Their daughter Mary Routh, widowed in her teens, married Mississippi banker and planter Charles G. Dahlgren as her second husband and inherited the house. In 1855, lightning struck the Routhland chimney and the original home burned to the ground.
Charles Dahlgren rebuilt on the same site in 1856 in a strongly classical Greek Revival idiom. The new house, designed with two-story porches that encircle the entire building, is the only Mississippi antebellum mansion with a fully encircling 26-column Tuscan colonnade. Mary died shortly after the new house was completed.
Dahlgren sold the property to wealthy cotton planter Alfred Vidal Davis for $30,000. Davis renamed the estate Dunleith. As a major Natchez planter's residence, Dunleith's antebellum economy was inseparable from enslaved labor, both on the city estate and on the surrounding plantation holdings that funded the family's lifestyle.
Dunleith was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974. The 40-acre grounds retain an 1790s carriage house, dairy barn, poultry house, greenhouse, and a three-story brick dependency. The property operates today as the Dunleith Historic Inn, a luxury bed-and-breakfast with on-site dining, daytime mansion tours, and an event venue program.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunleith
- https://www.dunleithhistoricinn.com/about/history/
- https://visitnatchez.org/listing/dunleith-historic-inn/
- https://www.loc.gov/item/2011631320/
- https://www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/nom/prop/2100.pdf
Phantom harp music in the upper roomsFemale apparition (locally known as 'Miss Percy')
The most-cited Dunleith ghost story is the legend of Miss Percy, recorded by folklorist Kathryn Tucker Windham in her 1974 collection 'Thirteen Mississippi Ghosts and Jeffrey' and retold by Southern Spirit Guide, Mississippi Haunted Houses, Haunted Places, and Haunted Houses. According to the legend, Miss Percy was a relative of Mary Routh Dahlgren who traveled unaccompanied to France to be with her lover. The man eventually refused to marry her, and she returned to Natchez as a 'lonely spinster' to live out her days with her Routh family relatives. The lore holds that she played her harp for hours every day, still dreaming of the man in France.
The specific phenomenon most often reported is the sound of a harp played by a female apparition somewhere in the upper rooms of the mansion. Southern Spirit Guide cites a 1983 Hattiesburg American article that records the firsthand testimony of Ella Mae Green, a cook who worked in the house and reported hearing the harp music.
The Miss Percy narrative is well-attested across multiple aggregators and is anchored in a published folklore source (Windham 1974), but the documentary record on Miss Percy's actual identity is thin — Windham herself acknowledged that her exact identity is unknown. Treat the legend as the central Dunleith ghost story it has become rather than as verified biography. As with every antebellum Natchez property, the lore exists alongside the unwritten histories of the enslaved people who lived and worked at Routhland and Dunleith.
Notable Entities
Miss Percy
Media Appearances
- Kathryn Tucker Windham, Thirteen Mississippi Ghosts and Jeffrey (1974)
Plan Your Visit
2 ways to experience Guided Tour
Mansion tour
Daytime guided tour of the only Mississippi mansion with a fully encircling 26-column Tuscan colonnade, with interpretation of the Routhland, Dahlgren, and Davis ownership history.
- Duration:
- 45 min
Sources & Further Reading
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dunleith Historic Inn family-friendly?
Family-friendly architectural tour; tour interpretation includes the slavery economy that built and sustained the property and is best for school-age children and older. Overall family fit: Moderate.
How much does it cost to visit Dunleith Historic Inn?
Overnight rates typically run $200-$400 per night; restaurant and event pricing varies.
Do I need to book in advance?
Yes, reservations are required.
Is Dunleith Historic Inn wheelchair accessible?
Dunleith Historic Inn has limited wheelchair accessibility. Terrain: Historic mansion with stairs; some ground-floor and outbuilding rooms more accessible than upper floors..