The Laurel Hill Plantation in

Jefferson County, Mississippi Jefferson County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi; its western border is formed by the Mississippi River. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the population was 7,726, making it the third ...

near

Rodney, Mississippi Rodney is a former city in Jefferson County in southwest Mississippi, approximately northeast of Natchez. Rodney was founded in 1828, and in the 19th century, it was only three votes away from becoming the capital of the Mississippi Territo ...

was a historic plantation. It is located about two miles southeast of Rodney, in a bend of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

named "

Petit Gulf Petit Gulf cotton was a cotton hybrid patented by planter Rush Nutt at his Laurel Hill Plantation in Rodney, Mississippi, in 1833. It was named "Petit Gulf" for the bend of the Mississippi River where it was grown. It proved more resistant than th ...

". It is significant for the architecture of its main

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...

and for the development of

Petit Gulf cotton Petit Gulf cotton was a cotton hybrid patented by planter Rush Nutt at his Laurel Hill Plantation in Rodney, Mississippi, in 1833. It was named "Petit Gulf" for the bend of the Mississippi River where it was grown. It proved more resistant than th ...

, a cotton hybrid, on its property. The plantation house was built around 1815 for Dr

Rush Nutt Rush Nutt (1781-1837) was a Mississippian planter, physician, and scientist. He was the founder of Laurel Hill Plantation and discovered Petit Gulf cotton. He is a former justice of the Jefferson County court in Mississippi. Early life Nutt was b ...

, a scientist and agriculturalist. Later, it was inherited by his son,

Haller Nutt Haller Nutt (1816-1864) was an American Southern planter. He was a successful cotton planter and plantation owner in Mississippi. He developed a strain of cotton that became important commercially for the Deep South. Early life Haller Nutt was bor ...

(1816-1864). Rush Nutt developed the cotton hybrid, and was also the first to use steam engine power in operating

cotton gins A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

. It was studied by the

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

.Library of Congress: View from north - Laurel Hill Plantation House, Rodney & Red Licks Roads, Rodney, Jefferson County, MS
/ref>Library of Congress: Laurel Hill Plantation House, Rodney & Red Licks Roads, Rodney, Jefferson County, MS
/ref> The property is ''not'' listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, although the National Register's NRIS database shows an entry related to it on January 29, 1983. This may have been a determination of eligibility or a delisting or some other event other than a listing. And the HABS overview page about it states "The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 29, 1973." Further, and perhaps confusingly, another Mississippi plantation of the same name in Adams County is National Register-listed.

References

Plantations in Mississippi Jefferson County, Mississippi {{Mississippi-stub