Stop 16 Melrose Playhouse

Melrose Playhouse

NPS

Quick Facts

Location:

Natchez National Historical Park

Designation:

National Historic Landmark

Amenities

2 listed

Audio Description, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

A brown wooden Playhouse sits behind the Melrose Kitchen. It is the only historic building at Melrose that is not connected to the McMurran family. By the end of the Civil War, John McMurran was hurting financially. He and his wife were also overcome by the death of their daughter and several grandchildren at the house in 1864 and 1865. The couple decided to sell Melrose. They made plans to join their son and daughter-in-law in Maryland.

At the end of 1865, the McMurrans sold Melrose to George and Elizabeth Davis who eventually gave the estate to their daughter, Julia. She and her husband, Stephen Kelly, had a son in 1877, named for his grandfather. The Kellys’ upgrades at Melrose included building this playhouse for the boy. Near the kitchen “Georgie” could be easily watched by servants like Jane Johnson and Alice Sims. Sadly, Julia and her father both died in 1883. Stephen took his 6-year-old son to be reared in New York City. After 1883, no one lived in the Melrose mansion for two decades. Jane Johnson and Alice Sims continued to live with their families on the property as caretakers and tenant farmers.

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