1939 Map of Natchez

About this map

The Mississippi River creates a high-contrast border between the alluvial lowlands of Concordia Parish and the bluffs of Adams County in this pre-war survey. On the western bank, the landscape is dominated by large-scale agricultural operations and oxbow lakes like Lake St John and Lake Concordia, where Alabama Plantation and Canebrake sit amidst a network of levees and river bends. The eastern side of the river reveals a different social geography, with the city of Natchez anchored by the Natchez City Cem and the U S Eng Depot. Scattered throughout the hills are numerous family-named estates such as Longwood Plantation and Hawthorne Plantation, as well as ancient Indian Mounds, illustrating a deep chronology of human occupation. The presence of Oil Wells near the Jefferson Adams County Line signals the industrial shifts beginning to touch this traditional plantation economy.