The Melrose Plantation was first known as Yucca Plantation when it belonged to Marie Thérèse and Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer, freed slaves. Yucca House, found on the grounds of Melrose Plantation, was built in the 1790s. The Big House is a West Indies Creole plantation house with early Greek Revival details. At the turn of the century, Melrose
became the home of John Hampton Henry and his wife Camie, a patron of the arts. Many writers and artists were guests at Melrose, where Mrs Henry enlarged the garden and preserved the buildings.