Peyton House (Raymond, Mississippi)

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Peyton House, also known as Waverly, is a historic home in Raymond, Mississippi, in central Hinds County. It was built between 1831 and 1834 by John B. Peyton, an early surveyor and settler who helped shape the town.

Peyton (1797–1868) came from Fauquier County, Virginia, to Natchez, Mississippi, in 1819. He worked as a surveyor, served as a major in the Mississippi Militia, and was elected to the Mississippi legislature in 1828. In 1829, his decisive vote helped keep the state capital from moving to Clinton. After this vote, he was challenged to a duel by Judge Isaac Caldwell; Peyton chose rifles, but the duel caused no serious injury.

The house is a one-and-a-half-story, gable-front building raised on brick piers, with dormers and elaborate woodwork. Its gable end features a partial Palladian window with side windows and a rounded top, but it originally lacked a central opening. An unusual feature is a lower-level room. The design reflects a Virginia-style home adapted for Mississippi’s hot climate to improve ventilation. Over the years, the house has been altered, including adding a central window in the gable.

During the Civil War era, Union troops seized Peyton’s livestock after the 1863 Battle of Raymond, a key engagement in the Vicksburg Campaign. General Ulysses S. Grant later ordered the livestock returned, possibly because Peyton was known to be favorable to the Union. Peyton died at the house in 1868, at about 70 or 71, and was considered the father of Raymond and its oldest resident at the time of his death.

The Peyton House was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1936 and stands along the Natchez Trace.