Biloxi MS - Jefferson Davis Home (Beauvoir)

Jefferson Davis House

We took highway 90 along the Gulf Coast as we entered Mississippi. Outside Biloxi, we stopped at the home of Jefferson Davis, the only President of the Confederate States of America. This is where Jefferson spent his later years in life, right along the coast. The home had a unique shape - sort of a boxy A shape – where the main rooms of the house were in the box and then master bedroom and the main dining room in the legs of the A going back from the gulf. In between the wings was a large shuttered porch. This configuration allowed for the winds to flow through the house, especially since the living areas were on the second floor of the house, the bottom used only for storage. 

Layout as seen from the back

As we approached the house, we could see that the shutters showed a lot of damage. This was a result of the house being devastated by Hurricane Katrina. In fact, the second floor had water damage 1 ½ feet above the floor. The original piano had been thrown out of the house and suffered major damage.

We also visited the Jefferson Davis Museum and Library. While we only knew him as President of the Confederate States, here we learned he had fought in the Mexican-American War, had been a congressman and senator from Mississippi, served as Secretary of War, was responsible for putting the dome on the capital building, and for negotiating the purchase of land from Mexico that became part of New Mexico and Arizona. After the Civil War, he spent two years in Federal Prison, but was then released and led a quiet life until his death. His funeral in New Orleans was a well-attended event.

Piano damaged by Katrina

Our campground for the next 2 nights is the Shady Acres Campground outside of Mobile, Alabama. We thought we had made a wrong turn in a residential neighborhood, when all of it sudden it appeared on our right. Another large campground, a little older with lots of shade trees.