8 February ‘09 Sunday
Well this is what we did today (went to learn about Jefferson Davis and Beauvoir), what did you do ???
Beauvoir…(BOV-WAH)…”Beautiful view”. Beauvoir was developed by a wealthy Mississippi planter in 1848. The land is fronting the Mississippi Sound (the Mississippi Sound is the waters that front the Biloxi area and is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by the thin strip of the Gulf Islands) and took 4 years to complete. Beauvoir is a single story raised building
Well this is what we did today (went to learn about Jefferson Davis and Beauvoir), what did you do ???
Beauvoir…(BOV-WAH)…”Beautiful view”. Beauvoir was developed by a wealthy Mississippi planter in 1848. The land is fronting the Mississippi Sound (the Mississippi Sound is the waters that front the Biloxi area and is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by the thin strip of the Gulf Islands) and took 4 years to complete. Beauvoir is a single story raised building
that sat in a complex of 51 acres that included two pavilions, kitchen, carpenter’s shop and residence, foreman’s house, maids quarters, chicken coop, barn, carriage house and harness shop. By 1877, Beauvoir had sold twice and the new owner a wealthy intellectual, Sarah Dorsey, invited Jefferson Davis to move into the estate and write his memoirs. By year’s end, Varina Howell Davis joined her husband at Beauvoir after returning from Europe. The following year Jefferson Davis became the 4th owner of Beauvoir for $5,500. By 1881 Jefferson Davis had published his memoirs The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government and A Short History of the Confederate States of America. After Jefferson’s death, Mrs. Davis and daughter were asked to move to New York and write for Joseph Pulitzer and the New York Times. In leaving Beauvoir, Mrs. Davis knew that she would never come back but wanted Beauvoir to remain as a memorial to Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States.
Today things have changed considerably because of one huge hurricane…Hurricane Katrina. Of the original buildings, five of seven were destroyed. Beauvoir is still going through rebuilding, but is complete enough to have tours pass through on a daily basis.
As of this month, they have spent $4.5 million dollars toward rebuilding Beauvoir by itself…it was a terrific storm that took it down, and the damage was staggering. The interior painting project is going very slow because of all the detail that they are bringing back. For instance the details on the walls and ceilings,
and painting the “oak wood” designs on all the woodwork. Because of the original woods for the doors not having any natural “grain”, they have diligently painted each and every grain to represent oak on all the natural wood stained doors (this was also done originally).
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