Living Our Dream

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.

Meridian, MS, Part II: Dunn's Falls

The day after we toured the historic homes in downtown Meridian was another beautiful fall day, so we decided to drive about 20 miles south to Enterprise, MS, to visit Dunn's Falls. Dunn's Falls is part of the Pat Harrison Waterway District, which is a state agency that provides recreational opportunities along the rivers in southeastern and east-central Mississippi.

Dunn's Falls is the site of a mill built in the late 1850s by a young Irish immigrant by the name of John Dunn. The 65-foot waterfall that cascaded over the bluff to the Chunky River below provided a good power source for the three-story cotton mill. Dunn's original mill no longer exists, but the 1857 Carroll-Richardson grist mill was moved to the site from Springs, GA, in 1987. The photo below shows water wheel with the Carroll-Richardson mill to the right.

When the Civil War broke out, and the new Confederate government confiscated Dunn's mill and put it to work under Dunn's supervision making blankets, knives and hats for the South's war effort. John Stetson practiced his hat-making trade at Dunn's mill for a time. After the war, the mill was converted to make flour. Inside the mill, you can see some of the millstones and bins that were transported to the site along with the Carroll-Richardson mill.

The mill changed hands several times after the war before it collapsed into the river below. No one is sure what happened to John Dunn, but one account we saw said he died in 1904.

The park at Dunn's Falls has a pond where you can fish and rent paddle boats. There is also primitive tent camping, a cabin to rent and hiking. We decided to take advantage of the nice fall day and do a little hiking. We started with the steep steps that go down to the river.

From below you can get a nice view of the river. Although swimming is not recommended, you can canoe on the river.

There is also a good view of the falls and the mill above. Unfortunately, there has been a drought in the southeast, and the flow over the falls is very low.

Back at the top of the steps, we headed off down the path to the primitive camping area. While the leaves had not yet begun to show much color this far south, a few leaves had fallen providing a nice crunch underfoot and the smell of fall in the air. It was a nice, quiet walk in the woods.

After our hike, we headed back to the motor home for the rest of the afternoon. We had another day to relax in Meridian before we continued on our way south. Our next stop was in familiar territory at the Escapees' Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, AL.

Meridian, MS, Part I: Historic Homes

From Red Bay we headed south to Meridian, MS, where we stayed at Benchmark Coach & RV Park. Benchmark RV has gravel roads and paved pads with grass between the sites. The sites are mostly pull-throughs, and they are fairly narrow. There are full hookups, free Wi-Fi and cable. Fifty-amp electric is available at each site, but for an extra charge of $3 a night for 50 amps we opted for 30 amps because it wasn't hot enough that we would need both air conditioners. Benchmark is a Passport America park which requires a reservation and cash to obtain the PA rate. The photo below shows our site at Benchmark RV.

The next photo is a view down the road past our site.

There are railroad tracks that run several hundred feet behind the campground. Fortunately, there weren't many trains passing by because they really roared and rumbled when they did. The train horns at the nearby crossings were pretty loud, too.

One of the first settlers in Meridian in the mid 1800s was Richard McLemore. He deeded a plot of land to his daughter, Juriah Jackson, and her husband who built a small, 4-room cottage on the land in 1858. The house was one of only 6 that was not burned by General Willian Tecemsah Sherman when he attacked Meridian on his infamous march to the sea. Subsequent owners enlarged and modified the house. In 1904, H. S. Floyd bought the house and expanded it to the 26-room mansion that exists today.

The home was divided into 8 apartments in the 1930s, and it was a rooming house until the 1960s. The building was purchased in 1968 by the Meridian Restorations Foundation with the purpose of restoring and preserving the home. The foundation renamed the house Merrehope (Meridian Restorations + Hope). The house is open for tours and can be rented for weddings and other special events. There are tours featuring Christmas trees and decorations during the holiday season.

An interesting feature of the house is a second-story suspended balcony under the main porch. The balcony is suspended by iron rods inside small, wood colimns. You can see the balcony to the left in the photo of the front of the house above.

When we stepped inside, the first thing we noticed were the striking red glass panels surrounding the front door.

The house is furnished with period pieces, although only a few of them are original to the house. The next photo shows the double parlor with columns dividing the two halves of the room.

The next photo shows the dining room.

Located on the same property as Merrehope is the Frank W. Williams house. Frank Williams, who was founder of United States Fidelity and Guarantee Insurance Company, built this home in 1885 as a wedding gift for his wife, Bessie.

The Williams house was originally located up the street, but it was donated to the Merrehope Foundation and moved to its present location beind Merrehope in 1979. The outside of the house is in poor condition with paint that is in need of restoration. Hurricane Katrina also damaged the porch and many of the shutters. However, the inside of the house, although unrestored, is in remarkably good shape. Most of the furnishings are original to the house. The photo below shows Margery in the men's parlor.

After touring both houses we headed back to the motor home to relax. One of the reasons we choose to stop in Meridian was there were a few things to see and do, but not too many. After our summer of extensive sightseeing, we were happy to stop where we wouldn't be overwhelmed by too many sightseeing choices. However, we still had one more thing we decided to see while in Meridian, so stay tuned.

Vicksburg, MS

We drove south from Little Rock and stopped at Ameristar Casino RV Park in Vicksburg, MS. Unlike many casinos that have RV sites at the back of the parking lot, Ameristar has a real RV park across the road from the casino. There is a free shuttle from the RV park and hotel to the casino.

The roads and pads in the campground are paved, and there is grass between the sites. The site width is decent, although the pavement of the pads is a little narrow. All the sites are pull-throughs so we wouldn't have had to unhook the toad if we hadn't wanted to. More about that later. The Ameristar RV Park has full hookups including cable, and they have Wi-Fi. Some sites have 30/50 amp electric, and some have 30 amp. The photo below shows our site at Ameristar Casino.

  

And the next photo is a view looking up the road from our site.

There is traffic noise from nearby I-20, and there is a railroad track down over the hill in back of the campground. You can't see the trains, but you sure can hear them. Fortunately, there is no crossing nearby, so there were no train horns, but there was a lot of rumble when the trains passed.

We only scheduled one night in Vicksburg. Although we usually don't go sightseeing when we only stop for one night, we really wanted to see the Vicksburg National Military Park. Besides, it was only about 2:00 PM by the time we got set up, and it was also a warm, sunny spring day, so we went ahead and unhooked the car.

The visitor center at the park has an excellent 20-minute movie that tells the story of Vicksburg. They also have a small museum that depicts what life for both the soldiers and citizens was like during the siege.

In the 1800s, the Mississippi River was a vital transportation artery for the entire country. When the Civil War broke out, the Confederates controlled the lower Mississippi from Cairo, IL, to New Orleans. In 1862, however, Memphis to the north of Vicksburg and New Orleans to the south fell to Union control, and by early 1863, the control of much of the Mississippi had returned to the Union forces - with the exception of Vicksburg.

Controlling the entire Mississippi River was important for the Union because they could use the river to ship supplies to its troops deep within southern territory. Controlling the river would also effectively cut the Confederacy in two.

On March 31, 1863, Union forces under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant began moving against the Confederates in the area of Vicksburg. The visitor center had a map with colored lights that helped us understand the troop movement. In the photo below, the red lights represent the Confederate defenses around Vicksburg while the blue lights represent the Union forces as they prepared to cross the Mississippi.

After several battles, one of which resulted in the Union forces capturing the Mississippi capital of Jackson located about 40 miles east of Vicksburg, the Confederate forces eventually retreated to the west to the well-fortified city of Vicksburg.

Grant had the advantage of greater numbers, but the Confederates had the advantages of terrain and fortifications that made Vicksburg almost impenetrable. Union forces surrounded Vicksburg and lay siege to the town pounding it with artillery.

Although the Confederates successfully repulsed several Union attempts to break through their defenses, the lack of rations, the almost constant Union artillery fire and sickness eventually proved to be too much for the Confederates. Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, 1863.

The war continued another 21 months, but the surrender of Vicksburg combined with Gen. Robert E. Lee's defeat at Gettysburg the day before are considered to be the turning point of the war.

After we toured the museum and watched the informational movie in the visitor center, we headed out to drive around the battlefield. The next photo shows the Memorial Arch at the entrance to the road that traverses the battlefield in an elongated loop.

The eastern side of the loop follows the Union line. Along the road are scores of plaques and monuments. One could easily spend all day stopping to read all of them. Larger monuments, like the one in the photo below for Minnesota, honor all the soldiers from that particular state who fought and who gave their lives. There are also many, many smaller monuments that mark specific events that took place during the battle.

 

A little farther along the road, we came to Battery De Golyer, which is named for its commander, Capt. Samuel De Golyer. Battery De Golyer is the site of largest Union gun placement with a total of 22 canons. The spire on the horizon in the center of the photo below is the Louisiana monument over on the Confederate side. The Louisiana monument is adjacent to the main Confederate defensive position called the Great Redoubt. A redoubt is an earthworks fortification. 

The largest state monument is from Illinois. There are 47 steps leading up to the memorial - one for each day of the siege.

Inside, the marble walls are lined with bronze plaques listing every regiment, company and soldier from Illinois who fought at Vicksburg.

 

Adjacent to the Illinois Memorial is the Shirley House, which is the only original building of the period remaining in the park.

 

The Shirley family, who were Northern sympathizers, were forced out of their home during the siege. Like many civilians in Vicksburg, they dug a cave in a nearby hillside where they lived to protect themselves from the shelling. The house was so badly damaged during the siege that the Shirleys never again occupied it. The house, which was originally restored in 1902, is currently undergoing stabilization.

The next photo shows Thayer's Approach where Union soldiers under the command of Brig. Gen. John Thayer conducted one of the unsuccessful advances on the Confederate defenses. As you can see, the Confederates had an advantageous position on top of the hill.

At the far end of the loop road through the park is the USS Cairo Museum. The Cairo, which was named after Cairo, IL, was a Union ironclad gunboat that was sunk in the Yazoo River about 7 miles north of Vicksburg in 1862. The Cairo is believed to have been the first vessel sunk by an electrically detonated underwater mine (called torpedoes back in the day). The Confederates made inexpensive mines by filling glass jugs with gunpowder and anchoring them so they floated just below the surface of the water. Insulated wires ran to an electrical battery on shore where soldiers hiding in the bushes would wait for passing Union ships.

The wreck of the Cairo lay forgotten in the mud and silt at the bottom of the river until it was rediscovered in 1956. After an unsuccessful attempt in 1964, the vessel was finally recovered in 1965. The partially restored and reinforced Cairo is displayed in a covered, outdoor exhibit area.

 

An indoor museum displays photos of the recovery, models of the ship and thousands of artifacts recovered from the wreck.

You can walk onto the preserved boat (on new decking, of course - the original wood has deteriorated badly after over 100 years in the mud) and see canons...

...the original boilers, steam engines and the paddle wheel. The paddle wheel was located amidships and was enclosed in a wheel house to protect it from enemy fire.

Next to the Cairo Museum is the National Cemetery, which covers 116 acres and contains the remains of 17,000 Union Civil War soldiers, 13,000 of which are unknown.

The next stop along the park road was the site of Fort Hill at the top of the bluff overlooking the river. From this commanding position, and with the use of additional river batteries, the Confederates were successful at controlling the river.

 

The next photo shows Margery with one of the canons at the site of Fort Hill.

The next morning we got up and packed up the motor home, then we hopped into the car and drove over to the casino for the breakfast buffet. We normally wouldn't think of eating breakfast out on a day we planned to be on the road, but along with your first night's stay at the Ameristar RV Park they give you coupons for a free breakfast buffet over at the casino. They apparently hope you'll drop a few quarters into the slot machines on your way to breakfast, and then maybe decide to stay a while. The photo below shows the outside of the Ameristar Casino.

The buffet is fairly complete with all the usual items - ham, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, muffins, sweet rolls, biscuits, hot and cold cereals, fruit, pancakes, French toast and more. They also had chicken fried steak and made-to-order omelets. Although Paul thought a couple of the items were a little dried out (the home fries and the corned beef hash), everything else was quite good.

Back at the campground, we hooked up the car and hit the road. There are still many things to see in Vicksburg like the Coca-Cola Museum, the Vicksburg Battlefield Museum (separate from the Vicksburg National Battlefield Park), another Civil War museum in the old 1858 courthouse downtown, as well as several historic buildings in the old downtown area. We're out of time for now, but it looks like we'll be back someday. Stay tuned for news on where we're headed.