The Beauvoir-Jefferson Davis Home

This expansive 51-acre estate is much more than just a museum, nature trail, cemetery, monument, and gift shop. Beauvoir, much like its most famous owner, Jefferson Davis, represents a snapshot of the old American South. The house was constructed circa 1852 by James Brown, a wealthy planter from Madison County, Mississippi, as his vacation estate. In 1877, Davis was looking for a quiet sanctuary to write his memoirs. After renting the small Library Pavilion for $50 a month for two years, Davis decided to buy the historic house from family friend Sarah Dorsey. After Davis made the first of three $5,500 payments, Mrs. Dorsey unexpectedly passed away, leaving the Beauvoir House and property to Jefferson Davis in her will. At Jefferson Davis’s death in 1889, the property was inherited by his daughter, Winnie, according to a stipulation in Sarah Dorsey’s will. After Winnie died in 1898, her mother, Varina, sold Beauvoir to the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, with the condition that it be maintained as a memorial to her husband and operated for the benefit of Confederate veterans and their widows. Therefore, the site served as a free Confederate Veterans home for soldiers and their widows from 1903 to 1957. Beauvoir has also operated as a  monument to Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Soldier since the beginning of the 20th century.

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2244 Beach Blvd, Biloxi, MS 39531
(228) 388 4400

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