Windsor Ruins

Today the rain was gone and left us with a beautifully sunny day.

While planning for this trip, I came across a video showing restoration work on what is called the Windsor Ruins. Even with road signs it's something you can easily miss, especially when your GPS gets it completely wrong.

A little background: The former Windsor Plantation was built from 1859-1861 by Smith Coffee Daniell II, a successful cotton planter. Unfortunately, he would die weeks after it was completed, leaving behind his wife Catherine, their five children, and their yet to be born sixth child.

The house, one of the largest private residences in the state of Mississippi before the Civil War, had twenty-nine columns of bricks that were covered by stucco, and were connected with ornamental iron balustrades. Those bricks for the 45-foot columns were formed and fired by enslaved people using a kiln on the property. The home was three stories tall, though Smith had started to build a fourth floor for a ballroom. This would become a cupola, and it would play an important part in the War.

In 1861, the Confederates had permission to use the cupola as an observation platform to watch for Union movements, and as signal station. One night that signal station would lead to a very unexpected result. Catherine had decided to throw a dinner party, and extended invites to several Confederate officers. She used the signal station to notify her neighbors and the officers that it was time to come over.

What she didn't realize is that Union soldiers were also monitoring the cupola. Dressed in civilian clothes, Union officers joined the party. Walking right up to men wearing gray uniforms, they asked if they were Confederate officers. When the officers responded in the affirmative, they were arrested and taken as prisoners. The guests were appalled at the behavior of the uninvited Yankees; the family would suffer their own consequences. From this point on, the Union troops were stationed as permanent guards.

On April 29, 1863, seventeen thousand Union soldiers crossed the Mississippi River during the Vicksburg Campaign. They all saw the great plantation with its magnificent columns as they marched inland. Union General Ulysses S. Grant would use the home as his headquarters for a few days.

Catherine & her children were able to remain in the home during the war. In 1890, a party-goer left a cigar on an upper balcony, and the entire home burned, leaving only some broken family items and what you see on the site today. Time has produced more destruction to the columns, but there is currently a $3.7 million restoration project going on. Though we spent a good hour taking photographs & video, I don't know if anything can do the magnificent site justice. The size & magnitude left us in awe. If you're ever in central Mississippi, or heck, if you're ever in the South, this is a must-see stop.