History

Ellisland Farm

We’re walking toward the steading of Ellisland now, a tidy, whitewashed farm on the banks of the Nith. Robert Burns took possession in 1788 at Whitsuntide.

~ My Heart’s in the Lowlands

John Paul Jones Cottage

A wee cottage made of rubble, not a mansion filled with marble, fairly warms my heart.

~ My Heart’s in the Lowlands

Murray Arms Hotel

Cobbled together from an old gatehouse and a newer addition, the two-story inn of whitewashed stone seemed well plenished and the proprietor accommodating.

~ Whence Came a Prince

New Abbey Corn Mill

Shall we take a tour through the corn mill? By corn they mean any grain, oats in particular; American-style corn on the cob is called maize or sweet corn here.

~ My Heart’s in the Lowlands

Lunch at the Museum

The soup was carrot and bean, with only a few butter beans but rich with seasoning.

~ My Heart’s in the Lowlands

Cairn Holy

Leana eased the wagon to a stop on a bare, almost desolate rise surrounded by a thickly wooded glen. Behind them were two chambered cairns. A row of standing stones guarded one of the ancient tombs, the gray slabs of rock stark against the blue sky.

~ Whence Came a Prince

Tartan on Loom

People and their stories are the fabric of history. When we begin to pluck apart that tightly woven cloth, what vivid threads we find!

~ My Heart’s in the Lowlands

Anwoth Kirk

They came upon the Anwoth kirk at last. Enclosed by a dry stane dyke and surrounded by trees, the preaching house where Samuel Rutherford had won the hearts of his parishioners was a simple rectangle of gray stone with a belfry high above the door.

~ Whence Came a Prince

Wallace Monument

History hangs in the air like dust motes, not always visible but always present.

~ My Heart’s in the Lowlands