When we arrived at the house Mr. Richard F. Flowers, the curator, met us on the veranda. I was impressed by his encyclopedic knowledge of Beauvoir and equally so by his projection and enunciation. I envisioned him performing King Lear or perhaps Julius Caesar. He explained that the outside of the house is complete but inside the artwork is only 25 percent complete.

Historic artists were selected to paint the walls and ceilings as close to the original as possible as evidenced by the scaffolding in the reception hall. Mr. Flowers called our attention to the rounded corners and frescoed walls of the Reception Hall that were originally painted in the Rococo style by a German artist. He explained that everything possible was being done to replicate the paint, wood, furniture and furnishings to the original materials, colors and style.

The front parlor and the separate bedrooms for Jefferson Davis and Mrs. Davis were located on the west side of the house. Of particular interest to me were the iron bathtubs in each of their rooms. Mrs. Davis’ tub was bigger and nicer than her husband’s tub. He could only stand up in his tub, but Mrs. Davis had the luxury of being able to sit down in hers.

As we walked through the house, I was particularly drawn to the back parlor that also served as a library. I imagined President Davis working on one of his two-volume set of books, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. I pictured his fifteen year old daughter Winnie approaching her father and saying, “Daddy, you’ve been working so hard. You need to stop and rest for a few minutes. Why don’t you come out to the veranda and have a cup of tea with me?”

I was brought back to reality as we approached the dining room. The table was set as if the family would be coming in to dinner at any minute. The Butler’s Pantry was located directly behind the dining room and also served as the children’s dining room. Apparently, the children were not permitted to sit with the grown ups until they had learned proper table manners and were mature enough to be seen and not heard.

Mr. Flowers said that Mrs. Davis specified that the two front bedrooms be set-aside as memorials to her two daughters, even though Margaret, the oldest daughter, was married and had never lived there. My favorite room was the Winnie Davis Memorial Room. It looked like a young girls’ room with the canopied bed, white curtains and bedspread, pink lamps, and pictures. Every detail of the room was delicate and dainty.

I was especially drawn to the room because of what I had learned about Winnie. She was a beautiful girl with a charming personality. She was named Varina Anne for her mother and was the youngest of the six children. Winnie was a pet name that Davis had given both his wife and daughter. It is said to be an Indian name meaning, “bright” or “sunny.” During the War, Winnie was known throughout the south as the “Daughter of the Confederacy.”

Sometime during the 1880’s, she met Alfred C. Wilkinson, a Syracuse, New York attorney whose grandfather had been a leading abolitionist. It was love at first sight for the both of them, and they became engaged. Davis objected to the engagement but finally gave his approval; however, Mrs. Davis, family, friends and even the veterans of the Civil War objected to the “Yankee” fiancée. Their romance lasted five years, and then they ultimately gave in to public outcry and broke up. Neither one ever married. I can’t help but believe that Winnie’s life story would have made a great romance novel.

We finished the tour of the house and exited at the inside back porch stairway. I thanked Mr. Flowers for his informative and interesting tour and proceeded down the stairway. The heat of the summer afternoon that greeted me was a reminder that there was no air-conditioning back then. Although the house was constructed to take advantage of the breezes off the Gulf, I know from my experience on the coast that it must have been just plain hot both inside and outside of the house.

I told Mr. Forte that the tour would not be complete without a visit to the Confederate Soldiers Home Cemetery and he graciously offered to take me there on his cart. Riding on Cemetery Road we passed the Nature Trail, the Educational Pavilion, the Bay Head Swamp and the Oyster Bayou Lagoon. The Lagoon has some alligators in it that appeared after Katrina and have resided there ever since.

The cemetery is in a quiet and shady place in the northwest section of Beauvoir. Mr. Forte explained that in 1903 Mrs. Davis sold Beauvoir to the Sons of the Confederate