Stop 10 Melrose Courtyard

Melrose Courtyard

NPS Archives

Quick Facts

Location:

Natchez National Historical Park

Designation:

National Historic Landmark

Amenities

4 listed

Audio Description, Cellular Signal, Scenic View/Photo Spot, Wheelchair Accessible

Behind the mansion, the matching set of two-story brick kitchen and dairy buildings create a very formal courtyard. They are flanked by two covered cistern houses, and two smaller brick structures. The courtyard was probably not covered with grass that had to be mowed. It more likely was made up of swept dirt that could be easily be kept clean and free of pests. This was the center of activity for the estate. Behind the mansion was the world of the enslaved.

Like the front of the mansion, the wall of the gallery across the back of the house and the brick columns were painted to look like stone. A steep exterior stairway on the north end was hidden behind painted wooden blinds. This gave the household servants almost invisible access to the second floor of the house. Several slave bells are located across the back gallery. They were used to call slaves to carry out tasks for the McMurran family and their guests inside the house. Those bells could ring at any time of the day or night, for a slave’s time was not their own. Two slave bells in the basement of the big house were used to call slaves from the two parlors, dining room, or front door, the most important areas of the mansion. These bells are located near basement rooms that have fireplaces, where an enslaved person was probably always stationed to answer the call any time of the day or night.

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