Summer Vacation - Day 6

Saturday was spend in the national genealogical archive at Hawick (pronounced Hoik) looking for dead ancestors. The bulk of their collection was the 1841 Scottish census and various parish registers – all of which can be obtained on the Internet. I did not travel thousands of miles to be cooped up inside a library so I made various excursions outside to explore the town while Dale was glued to a microfiche reader.
I enjoy taking a back door approach to genealogy because often the most fun can be discovering a hidden gem. I also find the relentless pursuit of names and dates in civil records to be quite tedious even though they are necessary and extremely helpful when searching for dead relatives. I would much rather explore the historical data and physical remains of eras which preceded the modern day – so I explored the town and church yard striving to immerse myself in culture instead of sterile, colorless records.
After a full day – leaving only when the archive closed at 5pm, Dale and I returned to Melrose and after a dinner at a local pub/inn, we took a walk around Melrose to walk off the food.
It stays light until after 11pm and not fully dark until midnight. By 4:30am, the daylight dawns which must be why I awoke every morning at that time. So our second evening in Melrose, we walked until after 10pm exploring the River Tweed which runs alongside the village. The village itself is rather small and its main attraction is the ruins of Melrose Abbey. The village is surrounded by hills and farmland – the most striking geographical features are the River Tweed and nearby Eildon Hills, the site of an ancient Roman occupation. A suspension bridge, built in 1826, connects Melrose to the very small village of Gattonside. Before the bridge was built, the citizens would often cross the river on stilts which were kept on each side of the river.