Natchez is our entrance to the Lower South and as we head south through the forests of southern Mississippi and Louisiana towards the Gulf of Mexico at Bay St. Louis, MS.
A dense pine forest sweeps across the land in unending waves of green. Roads wind through narrow green canyons in a sparsely populated landscape.
The idyllic morning trip is rudely interrupted once we merge onto I-12 in Louisiana and head east for about 30 miles. The traffic was stop and go as I-12 is the route for all who want to avoid I-10 and New Orleans to the south. As soon as I can I leave the interstate on Hwy 90 and head for the Gulf Coast at Bay St. Louis. Bay St. Louis sits on the west point of the intersection between the Mississippi Sound (the stretch of the Gulf of Mexico that lies between the mainland and a line of barrier islands off the coast) and St. Louis. Bay, named in 1699 for Louis IX of France by French explorers. Once the railroad reached the town in 1869 the village became a resort for wealthy planters and travelers seeking to escape the heat and humidity of the interior. A brief detour from the highway takes into the village of Bay St. Louis and the Gulf of Mexico shimmers in front of us.
The1929 Louisville & Nashville train depot was in service until 2005 when the impact of Hurricane Katrina lead to a closure of service.
Hurricane Katrina devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast and it has not yet fully recovered as hurricanes continue to impede the redevelopment of the area. Just this fall of 2020 four hurricanes swept out of the Gulf of Mexico into the interior of the United States along the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico. For now Bay St. Louis benefits from the presence of casino gambling and continues to fulfill its’ destiny as a beach escape for city dwellers. Restored homes as well as homes under restoration fill the blocks closest to the beach in the small village. Many are raised in an attempt to survive the storm surge of a future hurricane.
The small village center is full of shops and restaurants.
Facing the gulf from the north and dominating the skyline is the Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church. The church was founded on this site in 1847 and the current building was constructed in 1908. The church and surrounding facilities were severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina but most of the restoration was completed in 2010.
The main street along the bay parallels the sea wall on the return to Hwy 90. The Hwy 90 Bridge over the entrance to Bay St. Louis arches beyond the railroad bridge in the foreground.
Crossing the bridge views open up to the north over homes lining the bay shore to the forests of Mississippi beyond.
Highway 90 now parallels the beach, acting as a sea wall for the ten miles between Pass Christian and Gulfport, Mississippi’s second largest city with a population of nearly 70,000 people. The ocean side is an amazing sweep of sand and sea.
North of the highway homes are scattered amongst empty lots, evidence of the capricious impact of hurricanes and varying degrees of reconstruction.
The port at Gulfport stretches out into the Gulf of Mexico.
The thirteen miles of beach between Gulfport and Biloxi give rise to the claim of being the “longest man-made beach in the world” as most of it is sand that has been dredged up from the ocean floor and deposited along the south side of Beach Boulevard to create the beach as part of an effort to reduce the impact of hurricane storm surge. A line of barrier islands about 10-12 miles off shore prevent large waves from pushing sand up on the beach and the building of the highway (Hwy 90, locally known as Beach Boulevard) cut off sand washing down from the interior to replenish the beach, thus the need for artificial refreshment of the sand. However created, it’s a beautiful sight as the condo and casino hotel towers of Biloxi reach for the sky in the distance.
Our base of operations is an rv park right across Beach Boulevard from the Gulf of Mexico. Evidence of past hurricanes lies in the lot immediately to the west where a large empty field of grass and oak trees gives the perfect place for Joey and I to walk and “do his business.” However, walking around the idyllic setting is not like walking in a park as under the thin layer of vegetation are the remnants of what was before: small shards of glass from broken windows, broken pavement and curbs, etc. It’s a beautiful day looking out across the Gulf of Mexico.
Zoning efforts beginning in the 1950’s have left most of the beach wide open to public access, interrupted occasionally by bursts of commercialism.
Nearing Biloxi the highway is lined with hotels, restaurants, stores and empty lots – evidence of hurricane damage and the continuing clean-up from this year’s hurricanes is abundant.
The 1895 White House, one of the oldest resort hotels in Biloxi, remains standing proudly on the north side of Beach Boulevard.
The entrance to Biloxi is marked by the Biloxi Lighthouse, built in 1848 and one of the first cast-iron lighthouses in the South (decorated with lights for the holiday season.) In the background looms the hotel towers marking the beginning of the Biloxi casino district.
Biloxi, MS
The French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville landed on Biloxi peninsula in 1699, a promontory that is essentially a large sand bar between a series of large lakes and the Back Bay to the north and the Mississippi Sound to the south. “Biloxi “ was the French adaptation of the native term for the area. In 1720 the administrative capital of French Louisiana was moved to Biloxi from Mobile but concerns about the impact on the low-lying peninsula from high tides and hurricanes prompted the French to move to a new capital at New Orleans further inland west in 1722. Biloxi slumbered until the mid-1800’s when it became a summer refuge for the wealthy seeking to escape the heat and humidity of the interior. Railroads reached the area after the Civil War and the resort legacy continued. In 1881 the first fish cannery was built in Biloxi, giving a year-round basis for the economy and sixty years later the US Air Force built a facility just west of the village center that evolved into Kessler Air Force Base.
Biloxi was a quiet village providing a summer haven for wealthy visitors until the late 1800’s when the seafood industry began to flourish, exploiting the tremendous numbers of shrimp and oysters in the surrounding waters. The early days of the resort period centered on the Rue Magnolia, a street running north from the beach across the peninsula to the Back Bay. The Magnolia Hotel, built in 1847, is only one block north of the modern casino hotel towers and anchors the southern end of the Rue Magnolia district. The hotel still has a peek at the ocean between the Beau Rivage and Hard Rock casino hotel towers to the south.
Across the street north of the Magnolia Hotel is the 1840 Scherer House (also known as the Old Spanish House). The stucco was scored to look like blocks of stone, a building material not available in the area.
Walking north on Rue Magnolia (the street is way too narrow for vehicle traffic) one passes a mix of restored cottages ranging in origin from 1830 to the early 1900’s.
On the corner of Rue Magnolia and Jackson Street is the 1910 Cousins House.
As the fishing industry grew a substantial city center rose along Howard Street, perpendicular to the Rue Magnolia. The two block core is bracketed by buildings with cupolas. The west end is anchored by the 1896 Eistetter Building and on the east by the 1896 Old People’s Bank.
Kitty-corner from the Old People’s Bank on the corner of Howard and Lemeuse Streets is the “New” People’s Bank, built in 1913.
We are now heading south on LeMeuse Street towards the beach and pass the 1905 US Post Office & Customs House (now City Hall) and the Old Biloxi Library, built in 1924.
Before leaving the downtown core I slip around the Hard Rock Casino to visit the shrimp boats in the Small Craft Harbor.
You can buy fresh shrimp right off the boat!
I head back west towards the rv park where my next step is a rather surreal experience, certainly not one that I anticipated not having lived in the Lower South. I’ll try to be as objective as possible, leaving it to readers to draw their own conclusions.
Beauvoir
The main house at Beauvoir was completed in 1852 by James Brown, a planter and businessman, who wanted a summer house on the Gulf of Mexico. The house is a raised cottage, built on pillars so that flood waters resulting from hurricanes common to this area could flow under the house. Wide porches, high ceilings, and large windows were all designed to capture cooling breezes from the gulf. There are only eight rooms in the main house. In 1873 Sarah Ellis Dorsey, a famous and wealthy author from Natchez, Mississippi, purchased the house and named it Beauvoir, French for beautiful view. Ms. Dorsey lived in the house until 1879, when a famous resident moved in. Jefferson Davis, ex-president of the Confederate States of America, first came to the area in 1877 when he rented one of the front cottages at Beauvoir. In 1879 he gained ownership of Beauvoir after the death of Ms. Dorsey and lived there until his death in 1889. The house and grounds were purchased in 1902 by the Mississippi Division of the United Sons of Confederate Veterans and the property became the Jefferson Davis Soldiers’ Home, dedicated to helping Confederate Civil War veterans and their families (known throughout the Lower South as the “Jefferson Davis Shrine”). Barracks and other buildings were constructed on the property to house those in need. Those facilities are no longer standing. The home closed in 1957 when the number of eligible residents (Confederate Civil War veterans and/or their wives) reduced to the last two widows of Confederate veterans. The last sixteen years of the Soldiers’ Home coincided with the opening of Beauvoir to public tours. The buildings were severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina but the main house was not destroyed and many of the Davis’ furnishings survived.
The main house actually faces away from the Gulf of Mexico with the “back door” opening to views of the Gulf of Mexico while the front door looked north across Oyster Bayou. A rare photograph from 1883 shows the back of the house from the ocean side, the main house in the center and a small cottage set apart on either side. Note that the current wide sandy “man-made” beach did not exist in 1883.
The house is in very good condition, primarily because it was built on piers above the ground and is almost entirely made of cypress, a wood virtually impervious to the weather. The tour begins at the back door on the oean side.
As I wait for the tour I turn around and face the ocean, noting the gaps in the fence that runs along the highway and beach, remnants of damage caused by this year’s hurricanes.
A simple design, the central reception area runs north/south through the center of the house. On each side two rooms open up, bedrooms on the east and a music room and office to the west. Again, most of the furniture and wall décor is original to the house.
The house is built in a “U” shape with the central hall running though the center and two rooms on each side. There are only four rooms inside the main house. The other four rooms are outside the main hall with entrances off the covered north veranda. Inside, the first room on the right is undergoing some repair. Note the wood pocket door next to the partially painted pocket door. The door is actually made out of cypress but fashion at the time dictated that the wealthy include pine doors in their homes. Thus a faux finish was painted on the cypress to make it look like it was pine.
The second room on the right was a bedroom.
The two rooms on the left include a music room and Jefferson Davis’ office.
Exiting the doors on the north one is on a large “U-shaped covered veranda” looking out of the historic main entrance north where visitors would be seen arriving. Shutters line the veranda, creating shelter from the sun.
Opening off the veranda on the east are two dining rooms, one for adults and one for children.
To the west off the veranda are the bedrooms of Jefferson Davis and his wife.
Walking down the north stairs a covered walkway on my right past the water cistern leads to the kitchen, a separate building in order to reduce the potential for fires.
Walking further away from the main house I turn around and take a picture of a scene that would have greeted visitors nearly 150 years ago.
I now turn my attention to the second, much larger, building on the property, the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library. The Mississippi Division, United Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., is a non-profit that owns and maintains the property. In 1998 they built this large, stately building to house the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library adjacent to historic house. The entire complex is now known as “Beauvoir.” The brochure handed out with the entrance ticket states “Beauvoir, A Mississippi Historic landmark and a National Historic Landmark, is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the legacy of American Statesman and Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Soldier.”
A magnificent oak tree marks the entrance to the library grounds.
The old Mississippi state flag, which displays the “stars and bars” of the Confederacy in the upper left hand corner, still flies proudly above the library as seen from the north side. Mississippians voted in 2020 to replace the Civil War legacy flag with one featuring a magnolia, state flower of Mississippi. The change has apparently not yet reached Beauvoir.
The main floor of the building houses administration and a large gift shop featuring items commemorating Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy. The second floor contains the part of the library which is open to the public. A gallery lined with paintings memorializing major figures of the Confederacy leads to the library. Here’s a sample:
At the end of the gallery elegant French Doors open at the entrance to the public area of the presidential archives. Stenciled in gold leaf on the transom window above the doors is the title “Presidential Library.”
The spacious room has two sections, a public reading area and stacks of material behind the Reference Desk.
Artifacts from the Confederacy are scattered around the room, many donated by the public. An example is a paymaster’s safe donated in 1956. (Note that it was common then and now to refer to the Beauvoir complex as the Jefferson Davis Shrine.)
Outside of the research library off the gallery hall a large room dedicated to the Confederate Soldier contains Confederate memorabilia, including an extensive collection of Confederate flags.
This flag has extensive documentation verifying that it flew over Beauvoir in 1908 and was used throughout the South at various dedication ceremonies around the same time commemorating the Confederacy.
Jefferson Davis passed away while in New Orleans seeking medical treatment on December 6, 1889. An explanation is provided of the situation.
On December 11, 1889 thousands of people lined the streets of New Orleans to pay their respects to ex-President Davis. Photographs from the day document the procession of the catafalque carrying his body.
An entire room in the presidential library is dedicated to the restored original catafalque.
Leaving the second floor I pass by the board room of the Sons of Confederate Soldiers. The simple room is dominated by the table around which the board members sit with the solitary centerpiece being a replica of the Confederate Medal of Honor.
Standing at the top of the stairs down to the gift shop the view south out of the wall of windows shows Beauvoir with the kitchen in the forefront, the two cottages flanking the main house, and the Gulf of Mexico in the background.
Not a mention of slavery to be found during the entire experience. Fascinating and somewhat unsettling…
Next up: Mobile Bay
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