Green Leaves, Greek Revival mansion in Natchez, United States

Green Leaves is a raised Greek Revival cottage completed in 1838, with a two-story white front of four square columns, dark green shutters and a cypress door framed by Corinthian pilasters. Wings flank the porch, and the north wing is a two-story brick kitchen building. The interior keeps its 1850s carpet, wallpaper and furniture, and a live oak over 400 years old shades the back yard.

The north wing began around 1812 as a brick house for cotton farmer Jonathan Thompson, whose family died of yellow fever in 1823. Edward P. Fourniquet, a French-born lawyer, bought the land in 1836 and finished the Greek Revival main section in late 1838 for about $25,000. Banker George Washington Koontz bought the house in 1849; his descendants added the south bedroom wing and front balconies in the 1850s, linked the main section to the old kitchen in the 1880s and 1890s, and still own it. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 29, 1979.

The interior shows how people lived and what they valued during the mid-1800s in America. The preserved rooms with their original furnishings and decorations reveal the everyday tastes and habits of the family that called it home.

Green Leaves is a private residence still owned by the Koontz descendants, and the sign on the fence reads "PRIVATE PROPERTY"; it is not open to visitors, so the gardens and interiors cannot be toured. The house stands in Natchez, Mississippi, and is a National Register of Historic Places listing from 1979. View it from the street, where the columned portico, green shutters and two brick chimneys are visible.

The house displays a collection of hand-painted porcelain decorated with birds that has been carefully kept through the generations. A sword once used at the Battle of Waterloo was owned by the family for many years and served the special purpose of cutting wedding cakes.