Living Our Dream

Minneapolis - St. Paul, MN Part IV: Minnesota State Capitol

Woodbury, MN - Events of Thursday, June 30, 2011

Last on our list of things to see in downtown St. Paul was the Minnesota State Capitol. As we explained in recent posts, the Minnesota Legislature and the Governor could not reach an agreement on a budget, so the state was scheduled to shut down at midnight. Therefore, if we wanted to see the capitol on this visit, this was our last chance.

The Minnesota Capitol is located on a hill overlooking the city. The design of the building is based on St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

This is Minnesota's third capitol building, and it was completed in 1905. The first capitol was destroyed by fire in 1881, and the second was considered to be too small by the time it was completed two years later.

Guided tours are given on the hour, and by the time we got parked, we had just missed the start of the 2:00 tour. However, they told us where to go, and we were able to catch up with the tour on the third floor without missing anything significant.

We joined the tour in time to hear about the meaning of some of the painted symbols on the walls and ceiling. From where we were standing, it would also have been a good place to get a photo of the dome. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a good photo because there was work going on and there was scaffolding running across the dome. There are actually two domes - the outer one made of marble and an inner one that is covered with plaster. The work is being done to correct a problem with moisture getting trapped between the two domes and causing damage to the plaster. Since Paul couldn't get a good photo of the dome, he did the next best thing and got a shot of the rotunda looking down at the inlaid floor below. 

We thought it was unusual the tour would end up on the third floor so quickly, but we soon found out the reason. From the third floor, the guide takes the tour up a spiral staircase and out onto the exterior balcony that surrounds the base of the dome. There was also scaffolding outside of the dome, so we couldn't get photos of the dome from the balcony, nor were we able to photograph the large, gilded statues at the base of the dome on the south side of the building. However, we did get a great view of the city looking toward the south where we could see the Cathedral of St. Paul that we had visited earlier.

The photo below is a view to the west. The group of buildings barely visible on the horizon to the left is Minneapolis.

From the balcony, we headed back down to the third floor where we got to see the house chamber from the gallery. The sculpture above the speaker's desk depicts Lady Minnesota with two pioneers to her left and a Native American chief and Sacajawea to her right.

The next photo is a view from the house floor.

At the other end of the building is the senate where we also got a view from the gallery...

...and from the senate floor.

As with all the other state capitols we have visited, the Minnesota State Capitol is designed to give a feeling of strength with all its columns and arches.

As the tour was ending and as we were heading back down the steps toward the exit, we began to hear chanting. Protestors were beginning to show up in anticipation of the rapidly-approaching budget deadline. We're not sure who the group was in the photo below, but Paul thought he saw a sign that said something about healthcare, and the guy on the far right had a slogan on his umbrella that read something like, "Tax the rich - help the poor."

As we continued toward the exit, we saw where the news media had set up in another hallway. Another protest group was gathered there, and they were chanting. We didn't understand what they were trying to say, but the fellow on right is wearing a T-shirt that says, "Veterans for Peace," and the sign in the center reads, "How's the war economy working out?" Since the military is funded by the Federal Government, we're not sure how an anti-war protest fits in with a state budget issue. Maybe they just figured it was a good place to get some media attention.

We made it out of the capitol without running into any more protests, and we got out of the city well before the afternoon rush hour.

We finished up the three things we wanted to do before the state govenment shut down at midnight. Our feet were really tired, so we took a couple of days off from sightseeing to relax. But we still had one more thing to see while we were in the St. Paul area. We'll tell you about it in our next post.

Biloxi, MS Part III: Tour Train

Biloxi, MS

We sometimes like to take guided tours when we stay in a new area. We usually like to do that early in our stay because it helps us get the lay of the land and to find other things we want to see. We didn't find out about this tour until we were almost ready to leave Biloxi, but we decided to go anyway.

The Biloxi Tour Train, also known as the Shrimp Train, isn't really a train, but a tram pulled by a Jeep.

The tour starts at the beach-side parking lot by the Biloxi lighthouse.

The Biloxi lighthouse was first lit in 1848. It is 45 feet high and was constructed from iron in Baltimore and shipped in pieces to Biloxi by boat. The lighthouse has a fourth order Fresnel lens. The Biloxi lighthouse is said to be the most photographed site on the Gulf Coast. It is the only lighthouse located in the median of a 4-lane highway.

Biloxi was originally inhabited by the Biloxi Indians. French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville landed near Biloxi in 1699 looking for the mouth of the Mississippi River and established a settlement. The area fell under British rule after the French and Indian War, and it became part of the United States after the American Revolution.

In the mid 1800s, the Gulf breezes in Biloxi drew wealthy residents of cities like New Orleans trying to escape the oppressive heat and humidity. This was the start of Biloxi as a beach resort. As we learned when we visited Beauvoir, it was originally built as a summer home by James Brown, who was from an area near the middle of Mississippi.

The Biloxi Tour Train has been in operation for 50 years. Carla, our tour guide, is a Biloxi native, and she has been doing the tours for 17 years. She exuded true southern hospitality, and her love for her native city and desire to share it with visitors made the tour memorable. Just like the tour we took last year in New Orleans, it was very interesting to hear about all the damage and destruction from Hurricane Katrina by a native who actually experienced it.

From the lighthouse, the tour went immediately into one of the old residential neighborhoods a few blocks back from the beach. A lot of these houses sustained major damage, but they were somewhat protected since they were not directly on the beach. Many of the houses in this area are over 100 years old. Most of those that were not completely destroyed have been restored.

From the residential neighborhoods near the beach, we then went to the old downtown area, which is called the Vieux Marché (pronounced voo mar-SHAY) - French for Old Market.

The building in the next photo was once a saloon. The second floor, which was where certain ladies conducted their business, was not accessible from inside the saloon, but only by a narrow stairway between the saloon and the building next door. As luck would have it, there was an accounting business on the second floor of the building next door, and it was also only accessible by the same stairway. Judging from the large number of businessmen who entered that dark, narrow stairway, it sure seemed like a lot of them liked to keep close tabs on their finances.

The next building, which is now a bank, was once the Biloxi Opera House.

Down at the end of the block on the Victorian building that houses Ellzy's Hardware is the Wicked Witch weather vane.

Biloxi City Hall, shown in the photo below, was completed around 1905. The building is designed in the Neoclassical Revival style and was originally the Federal Building. It is a brick structure faced with gray marble. Across the street from City Hall is a vacant lot where the library stood before Katrina.

We remember Hurricane Katrina well because it was so recent, but this area was also hard hit by Hurricane Camille in 1969. When the Magnolia Hotel was knocked off its foundation by Camille, it was moved to its current location. The new location is behind a sturdy, brick building, which helped save it from Hurricane Katrina. The Magnolia Hotel, which is shown in the photo below, was built around 1847 and is the oldest building remaining from the early days of Biloxi as a resort.

The next photo shows another example of one of the grand old homes in Biloxi.

Biloxi is located on a peninsula that runs west to east. The area to the south of the peninsula along Mississippi Sound is called Front Beach. The water behind the peninsula to the north is called Back Bay. The tip of the pensula to the east is called The Point. Although Front Beach was devastated by Katrina, The Point is lower ground so flooding there was a major issue.

Throughout Biloxi there are occasional telephone poles with blue lines painted on them. These lines indicate the high water mark during Katrina. Notice how high the line is in the pole in the photo below that was taken as we approached The Point.

Whole neighborhoods in this area were wiped out. Some homes have been rebuilt, but there are vast open areas where there used to be houses every 50 feet. You can see vacant driveways as well as some rebuilt homes in the next photo. Regulations now require new homes to be built on pilings 12 feet above ground.

On the tour, Carla pointed out the home of a childhood friend. He and about 30 others decided not to evacuate during Katrina and ended up huddling in the attic of the friend's home instead. It's hard to see, but there is a board on the porch column to the right indicating the high water mark - right about at the floor of the attic. The house was damaged, but fortunately, it survived, and so did the 30 occupants of the attic.

Near the end of the tour, we passed the memorial to those lost during Hurricane Camille. The flag pole to the left of the memorial was salvaged after the hurricane and kept as a reminder. The flagpole was bent by Camille, but it was bent less than it is today. Katrina more than doubled the original bend.

Located adjacent to the Camille Memorial is the "Ring in the Tree," which is an old live oak tree has grown with an opening in one of it's branches. Fortunately, this unique tree survived both Camille and Katrina.

And finally, we stopped at the Hurricane Katrina Memorial. The memorial lists those who are dead and missing from that storm. The glass case contains mementos salvaged after Katrina.

Carla took us back to our car at the lighthouse, and we made our way back to the motor home to finish a few packing chores in preparation for our departure the next morning. Our next stop is a return to New Orleans.

Biloxi, MS Part I: Beauvoir - Jefferson Davis Home

Biloxi, MS

Beauvoir is located on the western side of Biloxi, MS right along the beach. It is the home where Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederate States of America, spent his retirement years. The home is a Louisiana-style, plantation residence built as a raised cottage from cypress and heart pine. Except for the color, it reminded us a lot of Laura Plantation we visited last year outside New Orleans.

Beauvoir was originally built as a summer home by James Brown, a wealthy planter and entrepreneur. Construction was completed in 1852. Orange Grove was the original name of the home because of the satsuma oranges being grown on the property.

James Brown died in 1866, and his widow sold the house to a land speculator who resold it shortly thereafter to Sarah Dorsey, who was a novelist and intellectual from Natchez. Sarah Dorsey renamed the home Beauvoir (pronounced boh-VWAH) when she saw the view of Mississippi Sound from the front porch. Beauvoir is French and means "beautiful view." The photo below shows the view from the front porch for which the home was named.

Following the Civil War, Jefferson Davis was taken into federal custody and charged with treason. He spent two years in prison, but he was never tried. The case was finally dropped in 1869.

Sarah Dorsey was the childhood friend of Varina Davis, the wife of Jefferson Davis. In 1877, Sarah invited Jefferson Davis to stay at one of the two cottages at Beauvoir while he wrote his memoirs. He took Sarah up on the offer, and Varina soon joined him. In 1879, the couple bought the house and some of the furniture from Sarah Dorsey for $5,500.

Beauvoir has withstood 38 hurricanes over the years. There had been damage from some of the previous storms, but it was nothing like that from the 38th storm in 2005 - Hurricane Katrina. As we mentioned in a previous post, during Katrina this area of the Gulf Coast sustained hurricane-force winds for more than 16 hours, with winds over 120 mph for part of that time. There were also storm surges of up to 30 feet. The photo below shows what Beauvoir looked like after the hurricane.

The main house was restored to open in time for Jefferson Davis' 200th birthday on June 3, 2008. Slate to repair the roof was imported from the same quarry in Wales that supplied material for the original. Workers replaced damaged beams using heart pine and 19th century building techniques employing interlocking joints without nails.

In the entry hall, researchers sliced away layers of paint with scalpels and examined them under a microscope to help identify original colors and painting techniques. The husband-and-wife team of Philip Ward and Linda Coxson spent 13 months working 10 to 12 hours a day, 7 days a week to duplicate the intricately painted designs on the walls and ceilings.

Almost everything in the house was damaged by Katrina to some degree, and about 30% was a total loss. The 6 gold-colored chairs in the photo of the parlor below were reupholstered with silk brocade fabric that was specially woven to duplicate the original. The fabric cost around $550 a yard, and the total cost to restore the 6 chairs was over $20,000.

The next photo shows the bedroom used by Jefferson and Varina Davis. Notice the galvanized bathtub on the floor to the left. Hard to imagine a 6' man using it. He couldn't possibly have had bad knees...he never would have been able to get out of it!

In 2009, the two cottages on the property, which had been completely destroyed by Katrina, were rebuilt. One cottage was where Jefferson Davis stayed while Sarah Dorsey still owned the house. That cottage eventually became his library. The other cottage was the one used by his daughter Margaret Davis Hayes and her family when they visited Beauvoir. The Hayes Cottage, as it became known, is used today by the foundation as guest quarters for important visitors. The next photo shows Margery in front of the Hayes Cottage.

The property was also home to the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library, which housed a collection of 12,000 books and numerous Civil War records and artifacts. The library was so badly damaged by Katrina it was subsequently demolished. It is in the process of being rebuilt. The trailer on the left is being used as a temporary admission building and gift shop.

After touring the house, we walked the grounds and saw the live oak tree where Jefferson Davis went every day to read his Bible.

There is also a bayou, a veterans' cemetery, and the Tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier on the grounds, but they are currently fenced off and not open to the public due to the construction of the new library.

Jefferson Davis died in 1889. His wife Varina remained on the property for a short time, then she and her unmarried daughter, Winnie, moved to New York City. Davis left the home to Winnie, but upon her death in 1898, ownership reverted to Varina. Varina turned down several generous offers from developers who wanted the land, and she sold the property to the Sons of Confederate Veterans in 1902 for the modest sum of $10,000 with the provision that Beauvoir be used as a memorial to her husband and the Confederacy and as a home for Confederate veterans. Numerous barracks buildings, two hospitals, a chapel and several other support buildings were constructed on the site while it was being used as a veterans home. Those buildings no longer exist. Over 2,500 Confederate veterans, their families and their servants (former slaves) lived at Beauvoir during the time it operated from 1903 to 1957.

By 1940, the number of residents at the home had dwindled, so the main house was opened for tours starting in 1941. The original Jefferson Davis Presidential Library was opened in 1998.

After our tour of Beauvoir, we drove along the beach again for a short distance, then headed back to the motor home for some relaxation and a snack. There is still more to see in Biloxi, so look for our next post.