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| Longwood Plantation, Natchez, Mississippi home of Russell Edgington, the Vampire King of Mississippi from True Blood. |
I spent most of last week traveling through the south. One of my stops was an extremely soggy Natchez, Mississippi to see the home of Russell Edgington, the Vampire King of Mississippi in True Blood (Season 3 and 5). The torrential downpours were difficult but the skies let up for a few minutes while we were there, long enough to snap a few photos. The mansion is in the direct path of Tropical Storm Isaac which is forecast to drop another 15-20 inches (381-508 mm) of rain on southern Mississippi Tuesday-Wednesday.
Click on any photo for a larger view
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| The blogger striking a pose in front of the vampire King's house. |
Entrance fee to the grounds is $12 per person. That buys an annoyingly fact-filled tour of the basement of the unfinished mansion. We bailed on the tour after about 15 minutes in the first room. Like another palatial southern home—Graceland—Longwood has been encroached upon by crappy strip malls, big box stores and directly adjacent to the mansion. . . a decaying shopping mall. Still, if you only look toward the house you don't see all that urban clutter.
I thought the rain helped disguise all of the crap and give the place a bit of the TRUE BLOOD feel, thankfully. On a sunny day I likely would have been disappointed.
Questions and Answers:
Question: What is it supposed to be on the show?
Answer: The palatial home of the vampire King of Mississippi, Russell Edgington
Question: Where is it supposed to be on the show?
Answer: In Mississippi.
Question: When did we see it on the show?
Answer: We first see the house early in Season 3, Episode 2 "Beautifully Broken," where Bill is confronted by the King of Mississippi on the grounds of Longwood and subsequently held captive. The first view of the mansion is at night after a great werewolf-on-vampire fight scene in the woods in which Bill exsanguinates several werewolves before the King appears on a big white horse.
Bill is subsequently held captive in the mansion and the house appears again in later episodes including Episode 5 "Trouble," where Tara is being held prisoner therein by the crazy, love-styarved vampire, Franklin.
We get a good view of the house when Tara attempts to escape, as she flees across the wide lawn (which doesn't exist in real life) only to be brought down by one of the King's werewolves. It's here that Tara kills Franklin in his sleep (or so she thinks), and where Sookie stakes Lorna who is torturing Bill in one of the slave's quarters that also doesn't exist in real life. It's also here that Eric murders the King's lover Talbot, during a wild sexual tryst in one of the fictional drawing rooms.
Question: What is Longwood in real life?
Answer: An antebellum mansion (predating the Civil War).
Question: Where can I find it in real life?
Answer: The King of Mississippi's mansion is located in Mississippi blocks from the Mississippi River near downtown Natchez. To be more precise, it is the Longwood Plantation at 140 Lower Woodville Road, Natchez, Mississippi. While the exterior is beautiful don't expect to see much of the glamourous interior seen on the show. Built in 1858 by a wealthy plantation owner (Howard Nutt), it is billed as the largest octagonal house in the United States. The mansion is also know as "Nutt's Folly," because he never finished it.
The Civil War broke out in the middle of construction and workers abandoned the effort. Only the basement interior is finished and no photography is allowed therein.
Here's an aerial photo of the home. Zoom out a little and see the much larger mall on John R. Junkin Drive. And here is a map link.
Other TRUE BLOOD Locations links
