Biloxi and Beauvoir

After leaving Mariana we drove west to Biloxi, a town we have visited before, but never with the coach. We haven't been back since a Christmas visit in 2004 when  we came down from Alpharetta and stayed at the Beau Rivage Casino. It happens to be our favorite casino on the gulf coast. The drive along Beach Blvd has changed a great deal. many of the homes along the boulevard are now vacant lots, as a result of Katrina. At this point in time there is little or no evidence of the storm. One enduring landmark is  the lighthouse. It  was built in 1848 and it has two distinctions today, it is the only functioning lighthouse in the center of a US highway and has been kept by female keepers for more years than any other lighthouse in the US.

We arrived in Biloxi and settled into Cajun RV park which is about a block from the beach.  Its a pretty nice park with excellent wifi and cellular coverage as long as you don't mind the train sounds in the middle of the night.  One of the nearby restaurants had an interesting name.

We were going to have lunch there but opted for Mary Mahoney's instead. It is considered to be one of the best Cajun restaurants on the Gulf coast and the food was excellent. The picture was a Shrimp & Crab Au Gratin

One of the  more notable features of the restaurant  is a 2000 year old tree in the courtyard.

This trip we were determined to see Beauvoir Jefferson Davis's home from 1876 to his death in 1889. I have driven by many times but never explored the grounds.At $10 per person its a bargain.

In 1875 the owner of Beauvoir Sarah Dorsey learned of Jefferson Davis' financial difficulties and she invited him to the plantation and offered him a cottage near the main house, where he could live and work at his memoirs. He ended up living there the rest of his life.  In 1878 when Sarah died she willed the plantation to Jefferson Davis. In 1902 the property was sold to to the Mississippi Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans with the stipulation that it be used as a Confederate veterans home and later as a memorial to Jefferson Davis. Barracks were built and the property was used as a home until the sole remaining Confederate soldier's widow died in 1953. From 1903 to 1953, approximately 2,500 veterans and their families lived at the home. Many veterans were buried in a cemetery on the property.

the cottage where Jefferson Davis lived the first two years was later converted to a Library

In touring the house one interesting feature was that all of the doors were made of cyprus for durability but faux painted to look like oak.

After touring the house we took a mule drawn wagon ride around the grounds. The wagon crosses Oyster bayou passes the gardens  and enters the Confederate cemetery. 

The cemetery contains the tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier. The remains were discovered in late 1979  on a battlefield of the Vicksburg Campaign. The discovery led to the establishment of the Tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier in the Confederate Veterans Cemetery.

We ran across an interesting flag in the Museum. It was the original Confederate flag design aka "the Stars and Bars". The flag design was later changed to avoid friendly fire issues on the battlefield.