For seven years the women of Natchez had to keep mum about their grand accomplishment.
“Melrose by Gorham is more than sterling … more than a pattern … it is a symbol of the American way of living,” proclaimed the Gorham Company when it introduced its lavish line of sterling silverware in 1948. The intricate Rococo Revival pattern is based on the elegant carved rosewood pattern of parlor furniture in Melrose, a stately antebellum mansion in Natchez.
Rococo Revival is characterized by exuberant curving shapes and carvings of flowers, fruit and leaves framed by scrolls.
Commissioned by John T. McMurran, Melrose was built in the Greek Revival style and was completed in 1847. The McMurran family lived in the 15,000-square-foot mansion for twenty years. After several decades of various owners, George M.D. Kelly inherited the property and in 1900 brought his new bride, Ethel, from their New York home to live there. The mansion remained in the Kelly family until her death in 1975.
After several other owners, it was sold to the National Park Service in 1990 and now is a house museum where many of the original furnishings and finishes are on display.
The history of the Melrose silver began in 1941 when three intrepid Natchez ladies began what turned out to be a seven-year effort to attract national attention to Natchez and especially the annual spring Pilgrimage Tour, jointly produced by the Natchez Garden Club and the Pilgrimage Garden Club.
Harriet Dixon, NGC marketing director, and Lillie Vidal Boatner, NGC executive secretary, contacted numerous manufacturers of furniture, dresses, cosmetics and other commercial enterprises to produce products inspired by Natchez’s history and décor. The publicity from these efforts drew immediate attention to Natchez, with resulting tourism. Emboldened by their initial successes, Dixon and Boatner’s efforts turned to silver, since so many antique flatware and serving pieces were on display in historic homes during the annual Pilgrimage event.
The ladies contacted Gorham Inc. The company sent its design team to scout Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and several other renowned Southern locales in addition to Natchez.But it was the charm and hospitality of Natchez that convinced the company to create the silver pattern named for Melrose that evokes the charm and beauty of the Old South. Ethel Kelly agreed to permit Melrose, which was part of the annual Pilgrimage Tour, to serve as inspiration for the design, which Gorham described as “a symbol of Southern grandeur.”
Katherine Blankenstein, who is Boatner’s daughter, said the ladies were elated at their success. However, plans changed with the American entrance into World War II. Silver was scarce and Gorham was active in the war effort. Gorham continued to work on the project but swore the three ladies to such secrecy that they weren’t allowed to tell even their husbands, and certainly not their friends.
It was well worth the wait for an extensive national advertising campaign—major print media, radio, posters and brochures—resulted in an avalanche of publicity for the Natchez Garden Club, the Pilgrimage and the city. For their efforts, Kelly and the Natchez Garden Club were each presented with a banquet set of Melrose silver for twenty-four. Part of it is on display in Magnolia Hall in Natchez, a house museum operated by the Natchez Garden Club.
The set consists of ten pieces: dinner knife and fork, luncheon knife and fork, tablespoon, soup spoon, teaspoon, iced tea spoon, butter spreader and oyster fork. Additional pieces not on view include a carving set, sauce ladle, gravy ladle, serving spoons and dessert spoons. Although this might seem lavish by contemporary standards, far more flatware and silver pieces graced a bountiful table in Antebellum Natchez.
Victorian era formal dinners customarily consisted of multitudes of courses with appropriate utensils for each course. Fish forks and knives, fruit forks and spoons, ice cream forks and spoons, lobster forks, lemon forks and lettuce forks were among the many pieces that could be found in a place setting. People of wealth showed their status by their mansions and what was on view in them. Elaborate silver coffee and tea sets, pitchers, platters and the like would also be displayed in their dining rooms.
Gorham discontinued manufacture of the Melrose pattern in 2009, but settings and individual pieces are still available from antique silver dealers and online replacement services. Prices are quite different now than when the pattern was first made in 1948. At that time an eight-piece setting would have cost $47. Now, expect to pay more than $1,000.
Details. Details. Details.
At press time, many pieces of Melrose silver were available at As You Like It Silver shop in Natchez and New Orleans. (800) 828-2311.
