Friday 20Mar20 Jefferson Davis Presidential Library
Day 64
Woke up at 6 or so to Wiggin barking at someone walking by on the sidewalk right next to the RT. The commotion wakes Pete up so there is no point in trying to avoid getting up. Since we are right next to the road and sidewalk I have to put dogs on a leash. I walk them down to the water and we mess around in the surf for over an hour.
Back in the RT I fixed the usual breakfast. After cleaning up I decided to add blog entries all the way back through February 1st. It takes a considerable amount of time to post each entry. One of the most difficult aspects is the photos. The main photo has to be downloaded. My Pixel 1 Smartphone which is what I use for everything has a very odd way of managing photos. Since Pixel is Google's own phone it really doesn't have a device photo gallery instead it just uses their Google Photos Online Storage. In the Google Photos you can arrange photos into albums. Trying to use Google Photos Albums and then downloading them to add to the Blog is extremely difficult. It is best to download the photos into the phone and then they can be arranged into folders. It took me a long time to figure the difference between a album and a folder. If you open a photo using Photos you can't see the folder option. The trick is to use the album option but select the camera album. Still some photos won't show in the camera album but will show up in Photos.
I worked until 11 on getting all the entries back to February 1st added.
I then headed out to the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library. It was a large complex and there was very few people there. I was able to park under a huge tree. The place just a couple of hundred yards from the beach so there was a nice breeze.
I just made it to the 12 tour which started on the front porch of "The house." The house, part of a 600+ acres estate was built in 1848 by a planter named James Brown. In 1873 it was sold to Frank Johnston and shortly thereafter to Samuel and Sarah Dorsey. Sarah named the estate Beauvior which means beautiful view in French. Sam die in 1875 and Sarah knowing that the former president of the Confederate States Jefferson Davis was struggling personally and financially asked him to come live on the estate and made one of the cottages available to him. Later his wife Varina joined him. Later who knew she was dying from cancer convinced Jefferson to buy the estate for $5500. The amount to be paid in three installments. She actually secretly willed the entire estate to him and knew he wouldn't have to pay anything for the estate.
His youngest daughter Varina Anne "Winnie who was born during the last year of the Civil War, lived there as well. She became known as the Daughter of the Confederacy. While staying with family friends in New York Winnie met and fell in love with a Yankee named Alfred Wilkinson. At first her father disapproved but he later reconsidered and they became engaged to be married. When the people of the south found out they were outraged. She ultimately broke off the engagement to prevent any disgrace to her father's legacy. She never saw him . She caught malaria and died a single woman at 34 years of age. It is said that Alfred sat at the very back of the chapel during her funeral service. He never married as well.
After Winnie's death her mother Varina ultimately sold the estate to the Mississippi division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans with the stipulation that it be used as a home for Confederate Soldiers and their wives. Approximately 2500 Confederate Veterans and their families lived there. Many of the Veterans are buried in the cemetery on the grounds.
When the last Confederate Vetern died it became a museum. In 1998 The Jefferson Davis Presidential Library was opened on the site. Several buildings have been damaged or destroyed over the years by two major hurricanes. Katrina being the last. Being a National Historical Place it has been painstakingly restored.
After checking out the estate I drove on to Gulf Port and parked for the night at a Walmart.