The Beauvoir estate, built in Biloxi, Mississippi, along the Gulf of Mexico, was the post-war home (1876–1889) of the former President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis. The National Park Service designated the house and plantation as a National Historic Landmark in 1974.
Samuel Dorsey, a planter, purchased the estate in 1873. After Dorsey died in 1875, his widow, Sarah Dorsey, learned that Davis was facing difficulties. Dorsey invited Davis to visit the plantation, offering him a cottage near the main house where he could live and work on his memoirs. Davis ended up living there the rest of his life with his wife, Varina Davis, and his youngest daughter, Varina Anne Davis (known as "Winnie").
Ill with cancer in 1878, Dorsey remade her will, bequeathing Beauvoir to Jefferson Davis and making Winnie the residuary legatee, inheriting after her father died. The three Davises lived at Beauvoir until Jefferson Davis died in 1889. Varina and Winnie moved to New York City in 1891.
Beauvoir survived Hurricane Camille in 1969. The main house and library were badly damaged, and other outbuildings were destroyed during Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. Cedars, oaks, and magnolia trees surrounded the house, which once had an orange grove behind it. The northeast portion of the estate is the site of a primitive, pre-urban hardwood forest with an environment similar to what existed in the area during the 1800s.
Today, the site is approximately in size). It is located across US Highway 90 from Biloxi Beach. The compound now consists of a Louisiana-raised summer cottage-style residence, a botanical garden, a former Confederate veterans home, a modern gift shop, a Confederate Soldier Museum, the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library and Museum, various outbuildings, and a historic Confederate cemetery, which includes the Tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier. Five of seven of these buildings were destroyed in Hurricane Katrina, and replicas are being planned. Current proposals envision restoring Oyster Bayou to its original environmental state, although this area suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina.
History
thumb|View from rear parlor into front parlor in February 2010.
Beauvoir was built by James Brown, a planter and entrepreneur, in 1848 and was completed in 1852. In 1873 the property was sold to Frank Johnston and soon thereafter to Samuel and Sarah Anne Ellis Dorsey. They operated the plantation to cultivate cotton. Sarah Dorsey was a novelist and historian who wrote a biography of the Louisiana wartime governor, Henry Watkins Allen. It has been considered a prominent example of Lost Cause literature. Born and reared in Natchez, Mississippi, she was part of the prominent Percy family in the South. After her husband, who was older, died in 1875, the widow Dorsey lived in the main house with her half-brother Mortimer Dahlgren.
In 1876, having heard of Jefferson Davis' financial and personal difficulties, Dorsey invited Davis to stay at Beauvoir. She made a cottage available to him and assisted him in writing his memoir, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (1881), by organizing, taking dictation, and encouraging him.
Davis and Varina moved into the main house with their youngest daughter, Winnie. She was single as they had refused to let her marry into the family of a Yankee abolitionist. Davis lived in the home until his death in December 1889.
Hurricane Katrina
Damage assessment
On August 29, 2005, the main building was severely damaged, losing its newly refurbished galleries (porches) and a section of its roof, but not destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, which hit the Biloxi-Gulfport area head-on. The Clarion-Ledger reported on August 31 that Beauvoir was "virtually demolished," overstating the damage. The storm destroyed the Hayes Cottage, the Library Pavilion, a barracks replica, the Confederate Museum, and the director's home. The storm gutted the first floor of the Davis Presidential Library. Approximately 40% of the collection was lost.
With various federal, state, and private organizations' financial assistance and individual contributions, restoring Beauvoir Mansion started in early 2006. On June 3, 2008, Jefferson Davis' 200th Birthday, Beauvoir Mansion was fully restored and reopened for public tours. The mansion was restored to its original condition when Jefferson and Varina Davis lived there.
thumb|Jefferson Davis Presidential Library & Museum in 2014
In the winter of 2009, Davis's library and Hayes's cottage were rebuilt and open for public tours.
The Jefferson Davis Presidential Library and Museum opened in June 2013. Many artifacts were recovered and were restored or repaired from the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
In addition to the Presidential Library, the historic kitchen behind the Beauvoir mansion was reconstructed.
Funding for the renovation included $17.2 million from state and federal sources.
Restoration – collections
About 60% of the collections are estimated to be salvageable. Before Katrina, the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library maintained a collection of 12,000 books on United States history, southern history, and history of the American Civil War. The library also maintained collections of photographs, personal letters, manuscripts, envelopes, postcards, newspaper clippings, records of Confederate heritage organizations such as the United Confederate Veterans and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and records from the veterans home that once was present on the grounds. Most of these records survived except those on display in the two museums.
Civilian volunteers and the Mississippi Army National Guard assisted with salvage. Unfortunately, the room storing much of the authentic china and artifacts was adjacent to the gift shop, with replicas of the originals. Both rooms were destroyed, so sifting through the debris and identifying the genuine relics was very difficult.
Today
Beauvoir is owned and operated by the Mississippi Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans. Smithsonian magazine reported in 2018 that the museum communicates the Lost Cause perspective, including characterizing slavery as a positive institution and minor factor in the Civil War.