Pilothouse Replica at Natchez Visitors Center

Hi, Keith & steamboating colleagues:
WOW! Thanks for the color photos Re: pilothouse of the CHARLES REBSTOCK. Then something went ZING! in my memory and I ran to pull down the fine book you directed me to in the Howard Museum sales room. It is 'THE STEAMBOAT ERA In Historic Photographs, Natchez to New Orleans 1870-1920,' Joan W. and Thomas H. Gandy, Dover Publications, New York. There on Pgs. 6-7 is a fine B/W photo of the original REBSTOCK under the side block 'A Ghostly Bird.' The ornate pilothouse shows the weather vane with the chicken perched way up on top. Other photos of the REBSTOCK appear on Pgs. 20 - 23. Great photos found in this 'must have' volume. Thanks for calling attention to this publication.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

Indeed, The Mississippi Steamboat Era in Historic Photographs: Natchez to New Orleans 1870-1920 is a fabulous paperback collection of incredible photos, made from the old glass plate negatives, taken by Natchez photographer Henry C. Norman, and which the late Dr. Tom Gandy rescued many years ago at the eleventh hour. Every steamboat buff and buffette should have this wonderful and nominally priced publication, which is available on Amazon, Ebay and many other places, including the gift shop of the Howard Steamboat Museum!

For those who might be visiting in Natchez, be sure to see the exhibit of photographs (framed 16 x 20 prints) from this collection that are displayed in the upstairs rooms of Stratton Chapel at the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Natchez. There are hundreds of fascinating pictures of steamboats, plantations, churches, people, etc. Dr. Tom and Miss Joan also have done several other pictorial history books on Natchez, including one of children, published by Arcadia and all very good, as well as the excellent hardcover book entitled Norman's Natchez, published in 1978 and long out of print.

I first met the Gandy's on the DELTA QUEEN in 1978, when they rode from New Orleans to Natchez. I have been privileged to visit their lovely antebellum home Myrtle Bank (opposite Stanton Hall where the roof bell of the BETSY ANN reposes in the garden) which recently was placed on the real estate market. Mrs. Gandy is a talented writer and the community editor for The Natchez Democrat. A well deserved whistle salute to these dear southern historians for their good work well done.

Keith, isn't the Gandy's home Capt. T.P. Leathers' one time Natchez home too?

Frank: No, Capt. Leather's home is down the street in the next block and is called Myrtle Terrace. Capt. Leathers is buried in the Natchez City Cemetery and I've visited his grave a couple of times. Rufus Learned, who ran the Lumber mill and built the Str. BETSY ANN (named for his daughter) has a fancy mausoleum not far from the Leathers plot. The roads in the old cemetery are VERY narrow, obviously made for carriages!

Thanks, Keith for the info. For some obscure reason I thought that the Gandy's home and Leathers' were one in the same.

Myrtle Terrace was featured, in color, on the cover of an S&D Reflector many years ago. I was in Natchez last month and took a leisurely walk around that area, enjoying those beautiful old homes. The gardens at Myrtle Terrace were in glorious bloom. The AQ was visiting "under-the-hill" and I watched her depart upriver from the bluff. It was good to see her steaming up the broad Mississippi in the afternoon sunshine.