In our quest to see every state in the U.S. we figured it was time to see Mississippi. We decided to visit the gulf coast city of Biloxi and used their city's webiste to find some interesting things to do.
First on their list of places to visit (it might be alphabetical): Beauvoir, the late life home of Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederate States of America.
Au revoir, Beauvoir! (this is the back of the house after we just left.)
At first, the idea of visiting the one time home of the president of the Confederate States of America seemed a little weird. But after some consideration, we came to the conclusion that it is a piece of American History and we can't just ignore the parts that are associated with negative things.
It seemed remarkably busy when we got there, which we took as a sign that it was an interesting place. Soon we were touring the newly restored house. There are many interesting things about that old house,
Faux 3-d! It was all the rage at the time and was done with paint, not wall paper.
Jefferson Davis bathed in that cast iron tub! Crazy!
so walking and looking around was fun,
Hello!
but it wasn't long before we began to suspect that something was going on.
Turns out that it was Confederate Memorial Day and Beauvoir was hosting a memorial service. After the tour we just sort of followed the crowd over to the cemetary area where there was a stage set up
Cool! Looks like something out of an old western!
and people in civil war costumes milling about. Even the band had a civil war sort of theme to it.
Wow! Just like something out of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"
As more and more people started to gather, including a lady dressed in black civil war era mourning clothes, we felt more and more out of place. Oh, did I mention that they were armed with muskets? Try as we might, it was tough to ignore the rediculously large number of rebel flags,
Just the tip of the iceberg.
and by the time they started to march around,
Less cool: Just like something out of "Birth of a Nation."
Mary and I decided we just weren't that into this implicitly positive association with the Confederate States of America. Also, this one motorcycle gang in particular seemed a little too into it,
Not the most diverse gathering.
though they clearly have a sense of humor. As does the gift shop.
Apparently, Loons love it here.
All in all it was a pleasant excursion, but not nearly as pleasant as where we went for dinner. But since we didn't take any pictures of Kim Long Asian restaurant(the food was seriously tasty), the next post will either be about our trip to the beach or the bed and breakfast where we stayed.
