Beauvoir

They are predicting very cold weather for the next two days, with sleet, freezing rain and even possibly SNOW. Schools have already been cancelled for two days. Knowing we will be inside for a while, we decided to get out and play “tourist”. 

We drove to Biloxi to visit Beauvoir, the retirement home of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy.

 

The nine room house sits right on Highway 90 and is very impressive.

Katrina’s winds blew in the covered front door and with the rains, they had about a foot of water inside.  It took three years to repair the damage and gave them a chance to peel back layers of paint to see what the original colors were.  There isn’t any wallpaper in the home…decorative ceilings and wall décor is all hand painted using the trompe l’oeil of “tricking the eye”.

    

We learned that anything with a door was considered a room and was taxed accordingly,

but Beauvoir had two very tall closets flanking the front door….guide said this was to show off their riches of the original owner, James Brown.  Most people didn’t have any closets in their homes for that reason.

 

 

This clock was made a few years before George Washington became our first President….now that’s old.

 

 

 

 

The rooms were beautiful with some personal items of the Davis family, but most were period pieces.

The original piano in the parlor (forgot the year and type)  was destroyed by Katrina. During a tour one of the people

taking the tour said she had one just like that in mahogany instead of the original rosewood and asked if they would like to have it.  Of course the answer was “yes” and the visitor packaged it up and had it shipped to Beauvoir.

 

After Jefferson Davis’s death and his second wife and daughter moved away, Beauvoir was turned into a hospital and retirement home for Confederate soldiers and their wives. 

The view from the back porch shows a beautiful fenced garden that originally had 52 types of roses.  Beyond the garden is a large cemetery for soldiers and wives who died during their stay here.

Behind Beauvoir is the new Jefferson Davis Presidential Library.  It is very impressive, but still pretty much empty of possessions or displays.

We enjoyed our tour of Beauvoir and would highly recommend it to anyone staying in the area.

Remember, you are loved.