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Melrose is a Greek-Revival, Antebellum mansion that was built by Mary and John T McMurran between 1842 and 1848. It sits among 80 acres of land maintained by the National Park Service located in Natchez, Mississippi and remains much as it did 165 years ago.
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Cindy and I celebrated our 27th anniversary this past week camping in the area and visiting the sites along the southern part of the Natchez Trace. In the next several posts I’ll be sharing some of the places that we visited.
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A view of the barn from a back yard.
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A image of one of the old slave quarters.
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Although, these are a far better example of accommodations than I have seen before, I still couldn’t help but imagine what it must have been like to look through this slave quarter’s window at the mansion in the distance.
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While we were visiting Melrose we also had the pleasure to meet Michael Twitty. Michael is a recognized culinary historian who focuses on historic African American food and folk culture. He is currently touring and speaking about the historical roots of the food in the south and is seen here cooking the main course for the evening.
Yes that is a Mamiya RB67 that you see in the background. The RB67 was a medium format single-lens reflex camera made by the Mamiya Corporation and produced during the 1970′s. I can remember wanting one these many years ago.
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During our time there we joined several other families shelling peas, cutting okra and pealing apples, in preparation for a huge down home southern meal.
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We also met a wonderful lady Hazel Meredith whose brother, James was the first African American student admitted to the University of Mississippi, an event that was a flashpoint in the American civil rights movement.
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We had many more places to go and see. So we weren’t able to stay around for supper but it was looking good when we left.
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10 Comments
Nice series of images Phillip. Looks like a cool place. The B&W image is my favorite with greta tones
Thanks Len! I like the B/W one too. I’d like to play around with the others more, but I’ve just been too busy.
Outstanding series of images, Phillip. Learned a little something from this nice post.
This must have been a great experience and a chance to make some special memories.
You have succeeded in making me hungry as well.
Thanks Jimi. We had a wonderful time, and hated to leave all of that good food behind!
Wonderful set of images Phillip and Happy Anniversary.
Thanks Edith, I appreciate it!
Oh man, mouth is watering after reading this one! Nice work buddy.
It’s hard to beat BBQ pork!
I love the first image the way the tree frames the shot! Happy Anniversary!
Thank you so much Denise!