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Biloxi, Mississippi and, Beauvoir, the last home of Jefferson Davis.

As we “blew through” the states of Mississippi and Alabama on our last go round we made an effort to check out a few historical and touristy spots. We did spend an evening taking money from one of the local casinos. The gulf coast of Mississippi has loads of high end casino buildings with their accommodations versus the Louisiana version of a casino which is every gas station. The main attraction in Biloxi was the last home of Jefferson Davis, the president of the short lived Confederacy. The house is named “Beauvoir” or French for beautiful view. As it is situated across the road from the Gulf of Mexico we agree that the views from the front porch were indeed beautiful. After Davis’ death his widow eventually willed the entire estate to the United Confederate Veterans. One stipulation of the sale was that all Confederate veterans and families could live there for as long as they lived. Evidently, the last few folks died or were transferred to another facility in 1957. Now it is a museum open to the public and well worth the visit. Over 700 of the vets are buried in the cemetery on the grounds. An interesting read can be found at https://www.visitbeauvoir.org/about-beauvoir

Beauvoir is a wonderful old building with a view from the porch of the Gulf of Mexico.
One of two cottages that have been rebuilt due to hurricane damage
A recent addition to the estate is the Jefferson Davis Museum and Library.
Great name for a man’s best friend.

After the house tour we got a brief tour of the cemetery that is the final resting place to some 700 Confederate soldiers and their families.

This tree shows no respect for the dead and their tombstone. The name of the deceased is Wood. Very ironic we think.
Jefferson Davis is buried in Richmond, VA but his father is buried here at Beauvoir.
As we are in the south here these lovely floor to ceiling windows could be opened up in the sweltering summer months to allow the breezes to waft in from the Gulf.

Thinking of all the hours of painstaking work to carve all this detail into the ceilings. Well, much of it was done by slaves of the original owner back in 1848.

The golden harp is one of only a few of its make in the world. They did not allow us to pluck any strings?
“What they called the “dry well” is pictured here. It was used as a root cellar of sorts. It stayed much cooler in the well than outside so food stuffs were stored there including leftovers from each meal to be eaten at an upcoming meal. Is this why kids don’t like leftovers?
This grandfather clock was built in the late 1700s and is the oldest piece that decorates the home called Beauvoir.
A first edition of Davis’ book titled “Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government”. He wrote this book in the 1870s while living at Beauvoir. It was released in 1881. He did not own the property yet but was generously given time to “relax” and compose by the wealthy author Sarah Ellis Dorsey. As she was dying of cancer she decided to will the entire property to Davis upon her death. Evidently she also helped him with certain aspects of the book.

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