Ellicott Hill

Ellicott Hill, also known as the House on Ellicott’s Hill, is a historic house in Natchez, Mississippi, widely regarded as one of the oldest surviving residences in the city. Constructed around 1798, the house stands on a prominent bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and occupies the site where American surveyor Andrew Ellicott raised the United States flag in 1797, formally transferring control of the region from Spain to the United States.

The house is built with a brick basement level and a wood-framed main floor above. Its exterior features a distinctive high-pitched vernacular shed roof influenced by West Indies architecture, along with graceful upper and lower front galleries. A dry moat behind the structure allows light and airflow around the lower level and connects the main floor to the adjacent hillside by small bridges. Interior details reflect the refined Federal style popular at the turn of the nineteenth century, including finely crafted millwork, fan-lighted doorways, and domed and vaulted ceilings.

Today, Ellicott Hill is owned and maintained by the Natchez Garden Club and is preserved as an important example of early Natchez architecture and history.