Dear Melrose Plantation, Virginia,
Came accross your site and as I am Vice Chairman
of our local Community
Council here in Melrose Scotland (the original
Melrose) I am interested
to know why your Plantation is called Melrose.
We are at present
carrying out a project to try and locate anywhere
that has been named
after our hometown.
Regards
Douglas
What a delight to receive your inquiry about Melrose.
Oddly enough, we were
in Melrose Scotland September 1997. At
the Abbey, we asked about the history
of the word "Melrose". We loved visiting
our namesake.
When we purchased the plantation in October 1994,
just one year after marrying,
it was already named "Melrose." We've asked
around and nobody remembers
who named it, when or why, however we believed
that is must have been for the
following reasons:
1.This area was settled starting
in the 1600s by Scotch-English and therefore
names
recalling family ties were popular;
2.This property was owned
by and the mansion built by the Pinckard family,
whom
we believe were from Scotland and perhaps even familiar with your
Melrose;
3.Our predominant business
centre is named Kilmarnock (also known as the
New
York of the Northern Neck), and still associates itself with our sister
city
in your country (and we visited there as well);
4.The names of other local
significant properties include Windsor, Stratford
Hall,
Epping Forest, Levelfields, Wakefield, Mount Airy, Verville,
Westend
and Gascony and our counties include Lancaster,
Northumberland,
Essex, King & Queen, Westmoreland, Richmond,
Gloucester,
Middlesex, etc. All very English, I believe.
5.The famous poem about Melrose
was recently popular at that time.
6.Lastly, I think you'll agree,
Melrose is a fine name.
We're delighted to have purchased this lovely
property with this historic name.
And we think that our antique rose business is
a charming fit for the "Mel" of the
mason's mal and the "Rose" of the Cistercian
monks.
Meanwhile, I can't wait to see the results of
your project compiled into a
book...perhaps you'll let Melrose Plantation
Press publish it for you. Wouldn't
publishing a book be fun, in addition to being
a fundraiser, you could weave
your colourful Melrose contacts into a fun fabric
of information.
Cheers and good luck with your project.
Let us know how we can help. I'll be
happy to send you a photo or other information
if you provide your mailing
address.
Catherine & Robert Bennett