photo by Steve VanGunda

Colleen Wilkins names the houses she remodels after flowers. She currently lives in Rosehill Cottage with her dog, Lily. The sign for the house can be seen.

Rosehill Cottage newer than many named houses

By Vershal Hogan (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Monday, September 15, 2008

NATCHEZ — You don’t have to drive far in Natchez to find a house with a sign out front touting its age.

But when the Dart landed near the corner of John A. Quitman Boulevard and Auburn Avenue, the sign outside Rosehill Cottage — “established 1950” — let it be known that Colleen Wilkins’ residence is a young whippersnapper amongst the named domiciles in town.

But Wilkins wasn’t being cheeky when she put the sign up or gave her house a name. In fact, the last three houses she has owned were named.

“When you name a house, it’s like when you name a child,” she said. “It becomes a personal thing. It becomes important.”

Even though Rosehill Cottage was built smack in the middle of the post- World War II contemporary period, as opposed to its more aged brethren from the Victorian and antebellum eras, that’s no reason not to give it a name.

“Not everyone can have a house built in the 1780s,” Wilkins said. “Your house can be just as important.”

Her decision to name her residences came after she moved out of a house that already had a name when she moved in.

“It was called ‘Lily Place,’” Wilkins said. “I wanted to take the sign with me, but then I thought, ‘No, every place is different, and every place needs its own name.’”

So why Rosehill Cottage?

Wilkins planted Knockout roses in the front “because they last so long and because they’re easy to grow,” she said.

From there, the decision was easy.

Since then, she has been busy remodeling and adding onto the small residence.

“People who saw it before and come back are really amazed,” she said. “It had a lot of potential that was never explored.”

And part of that may go back to just giving it a name.

“A house almost takes on a personality once you name it,” she said.