Twenty-five days after Hurricane Katrina, Rita threatened the Mississippi Coast but did not make a direct hit as volunteers continued to salvage what was left of historic Beauvoir. When Rita created an extremely low tide, Jay Peterson spotted something suspicious from his Beauvoir guard booth.
He grabbed the binoculars and realized he'd hit pay dirt for a museum that had lost many artifacts on Aug. 29, 2005. He walked into the Mississippi Sound and retrieved the desk chair that Jefferson Davis had used as a Mississippi senator in Washington. A few barnacles were already attached.
Forty percent of Beauvoir's artifacts were lost in Katrina, and more than half of what was recovered can't be conserved in pristine condition. Some of those items will become part of a permanent Katrina damage exhibit to the Biloxi estate dedicated to the life and times of Jefferson Davis.
Whether the chair will join those items or reclaim a proud spot elsewhere is unknown as conservators study it.
"It's random and unreal what happened during Katrina, what was damaged, what wasn't," said Richard Flowers, Beauvoir's conservator. "Some Davis china survived without a scratch, yet silverware was bent like an accordion."
For months after Katrina, volunteers and the small staff combed Beauvoir's 51 acres for artifacts. Conservators, many of them volunteers from across the country, continue to help. When Beauvoir House reopens, about half of the original furniture will be back and more will come.
A 24-foot surge washed across the estate, but only 8 to 12 inches of surge entered the 1852 Beauvoir House. The floor is 23 feet above sea level and that height and construction techniques are credited with saving the National Historic Landmark.
Wind ripped off the distinctive front gallery, its steps and roof cover, which also caused damage to interior walls. Eight-foot-tall piers were washed out and the back porch collapsed.
Looks were deceiving. Architect Randy McCaffery, construction administrator for the restoration, estimates only 25 percent of the structure was lost, some of it caused by modern additions such as ground-level rooms. The use of Old World techniques with modern knowhow has brought Beauvoir House back to life. The bill: $3.9 million.
"Katrina gave us a chance to study how Beauvoir was built, how they put curves in the walls, how they joined lumber," Flowers said. "We're now going to have a construction exhibit."
What can't be fixed are the two cottages on the front lawn. In one, Davis wrote "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government" in the late 1870s. Replicas of both cottages are under construction for about $800,000.
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