Melrose: One of the Grandest in Natchez
- Jay Brothers
- 18 hours ago
- 2 min read
1 Melrose-Montebello Parkway Natchez, MS
Circa 1841-49. Classic Greek Revival plantation mansion
This 15,000 sq. foot Greek Revival mansion was based on Auburn but amplified in scale - and considered one of (if not the) finest home in Natchez.
Judge Edward Turner (1778-1860) of Woodlands built Melrose from 1841-49 as a wedding gift for his daughter’s marriage. John Thompson McMurran (1801-1866) and Mary Louisa Turner McMurran (1814-1891)(m.1831) lived at Melrose. McMurran was a Pennsylvania native, a Natchez attorney, and state senator. Mary was the daughter of Mississippi State Supreme Court Justice Edward Turner and first cousin of John Quitman’s wife. McMurran became a law partner with John A. Quitman, a future governor of Mississippi.
Originally, the estate comprised 80 acres including the house, kitchen, dairy, carriage house,barn among other structures. They named Melrose after Melrose Abbey in Scotland. The family prospered, and by the 1850s, they owned or held an interest in five plantations with over 9,600 acres. His family resided there for 20 years until 1865.
After the Civil War, the family’s fortune declined, and McMurran was forced to sell the estate and move in with her widowed mother at the Woodlands estate. Their son J. T. McMurran, Jr. and Mary Elizabeth McMurran lived at Riverside Plantation in Mississippi.
In 1866, Melrose was sold to Elizabeth Shunk Davis (?-1877). She was married to George Malin Davis (?-1883), a lawyer. Elizabeth purchased Melrose to live in for a while because Federal troops were occupying their own home of Choctaw; after the troops left, the Davis family returned to Choctow, and Melrose was vacant for about a quarter century until 1900. They also owned Choctaw and Concord at one time. With the 1883 death of Davis and his daughter Julia already passed away, grandson George was sent to New York to be with his grandparents.
Davis’ daughter married Dr. Stephen Kelly of New York. Their son was George M.D. Kelly.
In 1901, Davis’ grandson George Malin Davis Kelly (1877-1946) and Ethel Moore Kelly (1878-1975) inherited the home. Kelly was 6 years old at the time, and had spent most of his life being reared by his grandparents in New York. Upon marriage, young George returned to Melrose. He lived there with his wife and family for most of the 20th century - about 75 years. In 1974, Melrose was owned by the estate of George Malin Davis Kelly The Kelly family opened the home in 1932 to the first Natchez Spring Pilgrimage.
In 1976, John S. (1920-2006) and Betty R. Callon (1928-2010) purchased Melrose. He was a native of Natchez. They were owners of Callon Petroleum Co. on Canal St. They restored the home, but when their business declined, they were also forced to sell Melrose.
In 1990, the National Park System purchased Melrose, and it is now part of the Natchez National Historic Park. NR 1974 See Choctaw, Concord, Woodlands, Riverside
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