The Innes Saloon

When I was about 13 years old, my grandmother, Elizabeth Grace Innes told me that her father, George Innes and her grandfather, John Innes built houses in Inverness, and George named the streets after himself.  One street is George Street and one is Innes Street.  You might recall that last year, my grand-daughter, Grace and I went to those streets, took lots of photos and ate in the Innes Saloon.  We found the house on Innes Street where they lived.

Today, I found out that the houses on Innes and George Streets were not built by George Innes or John Innes.  In fact, the houses were built by a variety of different people.  The original land was a part of a tract called Wester Shipland and different trades men, carpenters, slaters, joiners, etc. secured long-term rentals of the individual lots and then built the houses on Innes and George Streets.  It may be that my great-grandfather, George Innes worked for these people to construct the houses, but he did not "build" the houses himself.

I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that my grandmother, Grace was misinformed about the houses on Innes Street. My grandmother was a strict and proper Scottish woman and would never make that up.

I also found some new and rather interesting information about the previous owners of the Innes Saloon.

In 1841, at the age of 21, Margaret Paterson (1819-1895)  married Donald Paterson. They lived in Inverness and had 8 children. Donald Paterson was a seaman, who owned 10 shares (out of a possible 64 shares)  in the 78 foot schooner, Lillias. The Lillias ran a trade route, probably carrying wheat or oats, along the Scottish coast and then to Prussia. In 1830, Donald was lost at sea on the return voyage from Pillau, a Russian seaport town in Kaliningrad Oblast. The ship and all hands were lost, leaving Margaret a widow with 8 children. She received about 445 pounds from insurance on Donald's interest in the ship and his life.

Their daughter, Alexandrina Paterson married Hugh Paterson, my great-great grand parents Thomas and Elizabeth MacIntosh Paterson's son.

Are you following along so far?

Margaret's brother, Harold Paterson (1824-1889) never married.  He worked for the Scottish version of the IRS.  He was an Exciseman and levied and collected taxes.  In 1875, he purchased the Innes Saloon  from Jessie Ross Taylor.  Harold and his older and widowed sister, Margaret Paterson (1819-1895) and her daughters, Grace and Margaret lived and worked in what they called The Innes.  After Harold passed away, his nieces, Grace and Margaret inherited the pub.

Scenes from Inverness

The Inverness sky is like no other.

Most of my day is spent researching my family history in the Highland Council History Center.  

The History Center has been open for about 2 years and everyone working there is knowledgeable, helpful and friendly.  Every morning, as I near the front door, security guard, Grant Begg,  comes out to greet me and walk with me into the building and every evening he walks with me and opens the door as I leave.  Wednesday night, heavy rain began just as I was leaving, Grant grabbed an umbrella and walked me to my car.  His mother would be proud.

This is Inverness' version of rush-hour traffic.  I usually sit through 3 to 10 changes of this traffic light.  It feeds into the Ness Bridge, one of the 2 bridges that cross the River Ness and get me back to my hotel.

This is an artsy photo of a building taken through the rain covered window while I waited for the light to change..

Inverness Castle from Ness Bridge

Ness Bridge

St. Andrew's Cathedral

Looking North along the River Ness
 toward the Ness Bridge

 These are views from in front of my hotel, aptly called the Waterside Hotel.

Inverness Castle

On Thursday nights, St. Andrew's practices ringing its church bells between 8 and 9 P.M.  They ring the bells about every 15 minutes for about 2-3 minutes.  When I heard it, I had to ask if there was a special reason for the bell ringing.  It sounded like the bell ringing you would hear if a Royal was born or married.

Fly fishing on the Ness

This post is for my Dad and Mom, who for the last 20+ years have spent their summers fly fishing in West Yellowstone, Montana.

Here in Inverness, every morning and evening, there is a group of men who fish the River Ness.  They wade and they fish from the bank.

And sometimes, they catch fish.

Kilmuir Burial grounds, Scotland

As promised, I can now share the photos from my trip up to the Kilmuir burial grounds.  This is the small cemetery surrounding the ruins of St. Mary's church on the Black Isle.  The Black Isle is neither black nor an isle.  It is a penninsula just north of Inverness.  You access the Black Isle via the Kessock Bridge. You can see from the photo that it is a very modern bridge.  If you look closely near the center of the bridge, you can see the cables that hold it up.

This is the narrow road leading to the church yard ruins.  The fence in the picture above is beautiful, hand hewn fencing that surrounds an estate.  The picture to the right shows a hand built rock barrier.  There are a million of these fences all over Scotland denoting property limits

After driving about 4 miles down that little road, through the woods, I made a left turn and found Kilmuir burial grounds.  There's my car parked right next to the cemetery wall.  Off in the distance is the Beauly Firth.  It's hard to tell, but the cemetery is on the bluffs above the firth.

This wall surrounds the cemetery on all four sides.  It's about 6 feet high.  There is a gate at the entrance, but it is locked and the only way over the wall is via the stone stairs you see here.  On the other side of the wall is a second set of stairs for getting down to the other side.  This wall protects the cemetery from intrusion. 

You can see how thick the wall is.  These are the stairs on the inside.  In the distance, you can see the locked gate.

Here is the grave marker for my great-great-grandparents.            Captain Thomas Paterson, shipowner, from Inverness, who  died 12 January 1905, aged 84 years and his wife, Elizabeth Macintosh, who died 19 December 1901, aged 69 years.

Here are some views from the cemetery toward the Beauly Firth.  The photos really don't capture the feeling I got standing there looking out over the water while the wind fiercely whipped up from the inlet below.

Challenged

I seriously thought I brought everything I need. The fancy adapter plug I brought is just perfect for charging my iPad and iPhone, BUT NOT my laptop. The laptop's 3-prong, grounded plug will not fit, so I have about 30% power until I can find an adapter. And, while I can blog using my iPad, I cannot add photos....yet.

My flight from LAX to London was quite nice and I may be spoiled for ever flying steerage again. The moment you sit in your seat the pampering begins. There is champagne, juice, water or whatever else beverage you might wish for. Shortly after that, they bring a very nice drawstring bag containing ear plugs, socks,toothbrush and toothpaste. Next comes your lovely sleep suit...a soft black cotton T-style shirt and pants..all tucked into another draw string bag. As soon as I can add a photo I will show you my seat. It was like a little cocoon with 3 foot walls and an electrical adjustable seat. Need a little more lumbar support? Just press the button. In a word...Posh. For meals, my table was laid out with a white table cloth and real silverware. I couldn't help my self from pinching the little airplane shaped salt and pepper shakers, especially after what I saw written on them, "pinched from Virgin Atlantic". Isn't that just asking for them to be taken? Oh yeah. The seat stretched out into a bed and was made up with a little mattress pad and duvet. That's right! A duvet. I managed to get about 5 hours of sleep, which is a record for me.

Today was was my first full day in Inverness. I drove up to Kilmuir and found the Kilmuir Burial ground, near the ruins of St. Mary's church.   You would not believe the countryside in that part of Scotland. Ferns that grow 5' tall and lush forests. It really looked more like Big Sur, CA. The cemetery is on a hill overlooking the Firth of Forth, which is a wide bay that empties into the North Sea. I took lots of photos and wish I could share them with you. I found Capt. Thomas Paterson and his wife, Elizabeth MacKintosh's grave, along with several other Patersons.

I also drove to Knockbain, which the birth place of many of my Paterson ancestors. I thought I would find a small town, but instead it is rolling hills and a few scattered houses. I will find more information on Knockbain on Monday when the history center is open.