Melrose House

Today we plan to visit one of the Antebellum mansions, Melrose House
We had a great time, here some pictures we took


The house was really stunning. Talk about how the rich lived in pre civil war days!! The gold in the 'green' room is actually real gold leaf. Most of the furniture is original and very beautiful. Original oil cloth can be seen on the floors and most curtains have been reproduced exactly as they were when the house was first built.The china was all English fine porcelaine. The house was built, around 1840, by a Yankee who moved south and who owned several plantations. He owned slaves - around 40 to run the house and grounds - don't know how many in the plantations. The house was built when he married a Southern Belle. It was decorated and furnished with the best that money could buy and it has been restored to as it was pre civil war. You can see the slave quarters, outside kitchen, dairy, laundry room, stables, carriage barn and slave toilets all behind the main house. The house was set in 140 acres of grounds - some laid out to formal gardens - and you can imagine what it must have been like to live this sort of life style. The family only lived there during the winter. In the summer, they travelled North, often going abroad to Europe to avoid the heat, humidity and mosquitoes. Rather like snow birds in reverse!!