Melrose...a new favorite Natchez site

Today we decided to visit the Natchez National Historical Park.  We got there between tours of Melrose, built in the mid-1840's, so we began with self-guided tour of the grounds.  Wow! Who knew so much was still standing here on what was once considered the "out-skirts" of Natchez!

Entrance and rear of main house

Now, Melrose is not a plantation. According to Park Ranger Barney Shoby, a plantation has to have a cash crop grown on the premises.  Melrose only grew wine. fruit in their orchard (peaches, pears, muscadines) and live stock.  It was a self-sustaining property even without the large crops of the era. (The National Park Service found over 200 wine bottles in the house when they bought it in the early 90's. On a possibly related note, all three families that owned Melrose were Irish...)

Columns and porch ceiling

I know we say this a lot, but honestly, we have not run into a terrible tour guide. Ranger Barney was awesome! He knew his stuff about Melrose, quoting journals and family histories, entertaining guests and engaging everyone on the tour. As Heather so eloquently put it on our way home, "I laughed, I cried, it was amazing!" I personally learned several facts that I never heard from other guides on Antebellum home tours.

NPS Ranger Bernard Shoby

I learned why the drawing room is called just that.  Once you enter a home, the host would draw you by the hand into the next room, thus naming it...the Drawing Room.  I didn't know that! I also learned that Hungarian tourists are not used to tour guides asking for their hand to "draw" them places.

Melrose was built as a show-off home.  John T. McMurran and his family owned five plantations in three states.  His wife went on massive shopping trips for furnish the Melrose.  The gasolier in the parlor was 24 karat gold.  The cornices at every window on the first floor are gold. The china brought home from a trip to London has over 1000 pieces! (And we aren't talking Corelle!)

             

The awesome thing about Melrose is that almost 90% of the furnishings you see on the tour are original to the house.  Thanks to families and the loyalty of freed slaves, most everything the McMurrans put into Melrose remains there today.  This is rare!

                   

When the Civil War rolled through Natchez, houses along the river were the focus of the Union troops.  Melrose's location saved it! After the Civil War, the McMurran's lost their fortune and were forced to sell.  In 1865, Melrose was bought by the Davis' Family.  They were from Natchez, but closer to the river.  That means their house was taken by the Union soldiers. The Davis' family moved into Melrose, but several deaths left a young boy all alone as the heir to the estate.

George Davis Kelly moved to New York to live with a grandmother, but left freed slaves to take care of Melrose. Grab the tissue...here come the tears.

Jane Johnson

Kelly left Jane Johnson to care for Melrose.  She, along with one other family housekeeper, kept Melrose and all of it's belongings intact.  As Ranger Barney told the story, when 6 year old George left, "Granny Johnson" as she was known, told him "If you never leave me boy, I promise to never leave you." In 1900, George married and brought his wife back to Granny Johnson and Melrose.  She never left! George took care of Jane just as promised.  In 1944, at over 100 years of age, Jane died.  The tombstone was suppose to read "Jane Johnson/slave," but George said no.  George had a new stone made that reads "Granny Jane Johnson/ Never bought - Never sold/Loyalist-Heroine & Preservationist." One year and one day after Jane Johnson passed away...so did George Kelly.

We were all squalling at the end of that tale. In my mind, this post would not be complete without a visit to Jane's stone in Natchez City Cemetery.  If you have never been to Natchez City Cemetery...it is HUGE! We failed in finding the headstone...for now...but did manage to track down some McMurrans.  We will find Jane!

                           


Melrose remained in the Kelly family until it was sold in 1976 to the Callon family of Natchez.  In 1990, the National Park Service acquired the property and all of the belongings in an attempt to preserve this wonderful piece of Mississippi history.

Melrose....a fantastic tour, a fantastic story, and a fantastic house!

Tours run daily from 10 a..m. until 4 p.m. and hopefully you run into "Little Barney" while you are there.  The gates to the grounds are open all day.  You can enjoy a free self-guided tour of all of the remaining parts of Melrose.  The kitchen, creamery, stables, carriage house, and slave cabins still remain much as they were when Melrose was built in the 1840's.

carriages 

creamery 

Carriage House

Carriage House and Stable

Stable

When visiting Natchez National Historical Park, be sure to check out the slave cabins.  One houses an exhibit on slavery in Natchez.  There is a plethora of information regarding slaves before and during the Civil War.  Also a room is replicated as it would have been in the 1800's when five slaves would have shared one room of the three room cabin. An audio presentation plays and tells stories of lives of slaves.

Take a day and stop by Melrose.  Bring a picnic and hang out under the fabulous old trees.  Tell Ranger Barney his Franklin County folks sent you :) And if you have the time and the weather cooperates, run on over to the Natchez City Cemetery and look up the McMurrans...and if you are lucky...Jane Johnson.

Until next time
~Rosemary