| Built in the Spanish period, the house was the home of Daniel Clarke and later Col. John Steele, both important officials in the territorial government. Airlie is an important example of the early Natchez planter's home of the late-eighteenth, early-nineteenth centuries. Its distinctive double-pitched roof of a gable with an attached roof shed over the front gallery, its glazed sidelights on either side of the front and rear doorways, and its exposed framing in the ceiling of the galleries, all attest to early construction and significance. Airlie rests upon land awarded to Stephen Minor in 1793 as part of two Spanish land grants. When the site changed hands in 1800, it was described as being that part on which the Mansion House now stands. Although Airlie has been added to several times in its early years, these additions have maintained and enhanced the original design and character of the house. It was bought by the Buckner family in 1832, and underwent substantial enlargement and remodelling around that time, but few changes have been made to the house since the mid 19th-century. The earliest part of the house appears to have been the two rooms east of the central hallway. The rear room here has what is probably the earliest mantel piece in Adams County. Also retained from the early period are chamfered posts and brick-nogged construction, typical of early Natchez architecture (source: Mimi Miller, Historic Natchez Foundation). This building was individually listed on the National Register on 29 October 1982, and it was later included as element #32 in the Upriver Residential Historic District, which was placed on the National Register on 1 December 1983. It is included in "The Majesty of Natchez" (1969/1981/1986) (p. 26), "The Great Houses of Natchez" (1986) (p. 3) and "Natchez: Houses and History …" (2003) (pp. 30-33). [HABS: MS-43 (1936)] |