Beauvoir (Biloxi, Mississippi)
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Beauvoir is the location of the historic post-war home and Presidential library of Confederate President Jefferson Davis located at Biloxi, Mississippi, at . The main house and library were badly damaged, and other outbuildings were destroyed during Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. Beauvoir survived a similar onslaught from Hurricane Camille in 1969.
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[edit] Description
Beauvoir was the location of the retirement home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The compound consisted of approximately 500 acres (2 km²) located in Biloxi, Mississippi across US Highway 90 from Biloxi Beach. The name "Beauvoir" means "beautiful view".
The compound consists of a Louisiana raised cottage-style residence, a botanical garden, a former Confederate veterans home, a modern gift shop, a Civil War museum, the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library, and various outbuildings, and a historic Confederate cemetery which includes the Tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier. Several of these buldings were destroyed in Hurricane Katrina and replicas are being planned (see below).
The house is surrounded with cedars, oaks and magnolia trees and at one time had an orange grove behind it. The home faces the Gulf of Mexico and Spanish moss hangs from many of the large old trees on the property.
Oyster Bayou, a freshwater lake once connected directly to Mississippi Sound runs across the property behind the main house. The lake is fed by a natural spring that lies on the grounds. The northwest portion of the estate is the site of a pre-urban hardwood forest with an environment similar to what existed in the area during the 1800s. Proposals currently call for restoration of Oyster Bayou to its original environmental state, though this area also suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina.
[edit] History
Beauvoir was built by James Brown, a planter and entrepreneur, in 1848. In 1873 the home was sold to Frank Johnston and soon thereafter to Sarah Anne Ellis Dorsey. Dorsey was a novelist and intellectual from Natchez, Mississippi who was a staunch southern partisan. Dorsey lived in the home with her half-brother Beauvoir Dorsey and invited Jefferson Davis to live at Beauvoir and write his memoir The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government.
Davis accepted Dorsey's invitation and moved into the Library Pavilion on the estate grounds in 1877 with his wife Varina Davis. Davis arranged to purchase the property in 1879 but Dorsey died before the sale and left the estate to Davis in her will. Davis and his wife moved into the house proper along with their two daughters. Davis lived in the home until his death in December of 1889. Varina Davis remained on the property for a short time while she wrote her book Jefferson Davis: A Memoir. She and her daughter Winnie moved to New York City in 1891.
Jefferson Davis left the estate to his daughter Winnie. But on her death the ownership of the property reverted to Varina who sold much of the property to the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in 1902 for use as a memorial to her husband and as the location of home for Confederate veterans and widows. A dozen barracks buildings, a hospital, and a chapel were built behind the home and approximately 2,000 veterans and their families lived at the home at one time or another during its existence from 1903 to 1957.
In 1941 the Confederate cemetery and main house opened for tours. Eventually a Confederate Museum was opened on the site. Over the next few years a Jefferson Davis Gallery and gift shop were opened and the Tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier was established on the grounds.
In 1969 the home survived the onslaught of Hurricane Camille. Due to its construction and materials it survived. The home did experience extensive flooding and a major fundraising and restoration effort was required.
In 1997 the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans opened the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library which contains the personal library and papers of Jefferson Davis, a biographical exhibit, and a theater and lecture hall.
[edit] Hurricane Katrina damage
On August 29, 2005, the main building was severely damaged, losing its newly refurbished galleries (porches) and a section of its roof, but was not destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Biloxi-Gulfport area head-on. The Clarion-Ledger reported on August 31 that Beauvoir was “virtually demolished,” though the report apparently overstated the damage. The storm destroyed the Hayes Cottage, the Library Pavillion, and a caretaker's cottage. The Davis Presidential Library lost the greater portion of its first floor and the Confederate Museum lost much of its collection. Restoration efforts are underway with a planned reopening in 2008.
[edit] Collections
The salvageability of the collections and structures is not known yet. Prior to Katrina, the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library maintained a collection of 6,500 books on United States history, southern history, and history of the American Civil War. The library also maintained collections of photographs, personal letters, manuscripts, envelopes, postcards, newspaper clippings, records of Confederate heritage organizations such as the United Confederate Veterans and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and records from the Veterans home that once was present on the grounds. The survival of any of these records is not yet known, as hurricane damage in the area is extensive.
Volunteers are attempting to salvage what they can. Unfortunately, the room storing much of the authentic china and artifacts was adjacent to the gift shop, with knockoffs and imitations of the originals. Both rooms were destroyed, so sifting through the debris and identifying the genuine relics is very difficult.
[edit] Activities
Before the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the Summer of 2005, annual events included the Spring Pilgrimage in March, Confederate Memorial Day in April, The Fall Muster in October, and Candlelight Christmas in December.
Visitors to the site were presented with a biographical film on the life of Jefferson Davis narrated by an actor portraying Davis's long-time friend, Iowa Senator George Wallace Jones.
[edit] Designations
The home and grounds are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Beauvoir was also designated as a National Historic Landmark and a Mississippi Historical Landmark.
