Plans under way to restore Beauvoir

LISA M. KRIEGER
SUN HERALD

September 14, 2005

Despite massive storm damage, the historic Beauvoir House is structurally sound and can be restored, with time and money, according to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

"Plans are already under way,'' said Richard Cawthon, chief architectural historian for the department. "Architectural specialists have examined the home and found it preservable.''

The beachfront retirement home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and the only national historic landmark in Harrison County, the Beauvoir house has lived through the Civil War, attempted arson and 21 other hurricanes during its 150-year life.

But Hurricane Katrina was almost fatal.

Beauvoir's elegant porches, recently refurbished, are gone. So is the graceful front staircase. Entrance doors, each with nine oval glass panes, were destroyed. A corner of the roof is missing. Original windows have been broken. Louvered green shutters are badly damaged.

A cherished example of "Raised Cottage" Gulf Coast architecture, its design is credited with the survival of the house. It is built on slightly elevated ground, and the main structure of the house stands 12 feet off the ground on brick piers, allowing floodwaters to surge through.

The wraparound porches may have offered some protection, said Cawthon. And its broad and low hipped roof, with a slope on each side, was less vulnerable to wind than a traditional vertical roof.

"The house was designed to accommodate weather conditions that occur on the Gulf Coast,'' he said. "It was constructed to maximize its survivability."

Beauvoir fared better than many other landmarks in Biloxi. The Dantzler House, a cottage dating back to the 1850s, was destroyed. The Brielmaier House is missing. Only a chimney is left of the Pleasant Reed House, built by a former slave and home to a museum of African-American history.

The first step in Beauvoir's restoration will be to repair the roof, so that rain does not further damage the interior, said Cawthon. Because the foundation of the house is sound, it will be able to support its weight during restoration.

Unfortunately, its surrounding structures did not fare so well. "It is with great sadness that the Library pavilion, where Jefferson Davis penned "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government,'' the Hayes Cottage, Soldier's Home Barracks replica, Confederate Soldier's Museum, giftshop and director's home were totally destroyed,'' according to the Beauvoir Web site. The Presidential Library lost its first floor.

Beauvoir is owned by the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which will lead fundraising and restoration efforts.

Flooding carried away antique furniture and many priceless artifacts, including uniforms and weapons. It is feared that some rare rifles are gone, along with the saddle on which Davis rode into the Mexican war and the wooden hearse-like structure that carried his body to the grave.

Because an inventory is still under way, historians do not yet know how many artifacts were lost. Beauvoir historians reportedly provided a list of military artifacts to the eBay online auction Web site, so that any items listed for sale can be confiscated and returned to the estate.

The jacket of a confederate soldier was found suspended from a bush, along with other flotsam and jetsam.

To deter looters, the National Guard now patrols the site at night. A private security guard is posted during the day.

The good news is that the second-floor reference library of the Presidential Library survived. Two small cottages and a barn in the back of the property were untouched by flooding.

Its survival is a priority, agreed officials with the Washington D.C.-based National Trust for Historic Preservation and Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

"Beauvoir is a very important historic site because of its association with a very historic figure,'' said John Hildreth, director of the southern chapter of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

It attracts between 80,000 and 100,000 visitors a year. In 2002, the Mississippi Tourism Association named the estate the top tourism destination in Mississippi.

Because of its link to the Confederacy, "It is a lightning rod for a lot of people, which gives us an opportunity to explore a lot of themes in our history ‹ themes that have an impact on our current culture,'' he said.

South Mississippi historian Charles Sullivan calls it "a shrine" a memorial to a lost cause. Jefferson Davis is a symbol of a cause that failed.''

"It is a tangible connection to a past that wasn't so long ago. In the 7,000 years of human history, the Civil War was just an eyeblink ago. It just happened. Because of Beauvoir, Jefferson Davis is still with us,'' Sullivan said. "In the words of William Faulkner, 'The past is not dead. It is not even past.' "

Its restoration will be a delicate and deliberate process.

Because Beauvoir is listed as a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service, it will be eligible for federal restoration money. Private donations are also being sought. After restoration of the Beauvoir House and Presidential Library, officials hope to build replicas of missing structures.

Jefferson Davis is said to have savored the climate of Biloxi, once saying that "the soft air is delicious.''

With air that was neither soft nor delicious, Katrina almost claimed the site.

"But we'll fix it,'' said Sullivan. "We're used to defeat. We'll restore it. It will rise again."

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