Basking on the Porch at Beauvoir

Yesterday, I was able to do something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and that is to sit in a rocking chair on that huge porch at Jefferson Davis' home in Biloxi, Mississippi, enjoy the sun and have a talk with a person who works there.

Also toured it and am amazed at its recovery from Hurricane Katrina when it was partially destroyed. Even at 22 feet above ground level, there was a food of water inside because of the storm surge. The tour guide believes the only thing that saved the structure was the 3 and a half inch pine floorboards.

The home was built in 1852, lost to taxes after the Civil War, brought by the Dorsey family who invited Jefferson Davis there to write his memoirs and later sold to the Davis family. Jefferson Davis, his wife and one of his daughters lived there.

After his death, it later was sold to the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans who operated it as a Confederate veterans home until the 1950s when it was opened to the public.

A huge project is going on now to build a Presidential Museum and Library. Unfortunately, that has closed access to the Confederate Cemetery on the grounds as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier.

Sitting in History. --RoadDog