Ravennaside

Ravennaside & Roane Fleming Byrnes (1890-1970)

Ravennaside stands on a property bought by Byrnes' maternal grandfather in 1884. The Metcalfs had owned the adjacent property and home (which was built around 1837 and called Ravenna) in since the 1850s. Byrnes was born on August 11, 1890, becoming the first child of her parents. Her family moved into Ravennaside in 1902 when she was twelve. Her parents built the house to not only live in but to also host prominent friends and visiting dignitaries. She later married Charles Ferriday Byrnes in 1917 and they lived in Ravennaside with her parents (her brother was there as well).

Byrnes spent the next twenty years trying to become a writer but only had limited success, only publishing two children's stories. She did become involved in other activities including joining the Natchez Garden Club in 1929 and spearheading the effort to restore a local tavern. It was at this point when her interest in the parkway began. The club started tours of homes and this eventually grew to become the annual Natchez Pilgrimage. She also joined the Natchez Trace Association in 1934 and became its president in 1935. During the next few years, Byrnes (and other members of the organization) worked tirelessly to promote it, writing many letters and telegrams in support of the trail. This work eventually paid off in 1938 when the Natchez Trace Parkway was established (it is managed by the National Park Service).

During the next few decades until her death, Byrnes didn't stop working to promote the development of the parkway, which was a slow due to lack of funding and the difficulty in acquiring the rights-of way (the first segment—Jackson to Kosciusko—didn't open until 1951). Despite these issues, Byrnes continued to write letters and articles, and lobbied state and national politicians as well. In recognition for her efforts, Byrnes received the Award of Merit in 1966 from the American Association for State and Local History. Two years later, she was a prominent figure in a National Geographic story about the parkway. Around that time the mayor of Natchez named her "Mother of the Natchez Trace" and the state legislature named her "Queen of the Natchez Trace." When she passed away, more than 300 miles of the parkway had been developed.

In addition to her work promoting the parkway, Byrnes also advocated for other causes including racial justice. To this end she donated funds to African American churches and a local community center, and publicly supported a young African American woman who was participating in the Ninth International Games for the Deaf in Helsinki, Finland. She died on October 3, 1970. It appears that Ravennaside remained in the family until 1973. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Natchez Trace Parkway

The Natchez Trace wasn't a single route but rather a series of trails used for centuries by Native Americans, who followed trails created by bison and other migratory animals. As the United States became more settled, these paths became connected and as result, the Trace emerged as the most important economic and transportation corridor in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in what was then considered the "southwest". However, by the 1820s, the use of steamboats and other factors resulted in the decline of the road. Efforts to promote its historical importance began in 1905 when the Daughters of the American Revolution placed granite markers along the trail in Mississippi. Byrnes and many other interested individuals took up the cause in the coming decades. There are numerous historic sites along the parkway including historic buildings, Civil War battlefields, cemeteries, and Indian mounds and other archaeological sites.

Crocker, Mary Wallace. "Ravennaside." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. July 5, 1979. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/3e84f103-704b-47b5-8387-da291b0e0b30.

"Natchez Trace Parkway Fact Sheet." National Park Service. Retrieved from the WebArchive on November 23, 2020. https://www.nps.gov/natr/learn/management/upload/NATR%20Fact%20Sheet%20NPS%20Format%202-25-10.pdf.

Prevost, Verbie Lovorn. "Roane Fleming Byrnes (1890–1970) Preservation Leader." Mississippi Encyclopedia. July 10, 1017. Last Updated April 13, 2018. https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/roane-fleming-byrnes.

"Ravennaside Estate." OldHouses.com. Accessed November 23, 2020. https://www.oldhouses.com/4017.

"Ravennaside." The Historical Marker Database. Accessed November 23, 2020. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=103821.