Anchuca, also known as the Victor Wilson House, is a historic Greek Revival house located in Vicksburg, Mississippi, United States. The name is purported to mean "happy home" in the Choctaw language.[2]

Anchuca
HABS photo taken in 1936.
Anchuca is located in Mississippi
Anchuca
Location1010 First East Street
Vicksburg, Mississippi
Coordinates32°21′15.62″N 90°52′38.93″W / 32.3543389°N 90.8774806°W / 32.3543389; -90.8774806
Built1830
Architectural styleFederal, Greek Revival
NRHP reference No.82003113
Added to NRHP22 March 1982[1]

History

edit

The house was built in 1830 in the Federal style by J. W. Mauldin, a local politician. In 1840 a local merchant, Victor Wilson, bought the house. He and his wife, Jane, had a two-story portico added to the front of the house in 1847 to reflect the Greek Revival style.

Despite its proximity to the Confederate lines and to the Yazoo and Mississippi Rivers, the house survived the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863. The house was used as a hospital after the battle.[3]

Joseph Emory Davis, Jefferson Davis' older brother and mentor, and a granddaughter lived in the house from 1868 until his death on 18 September 1870. He had regained possession of his plantations at Davis Bend after the war, but the peninsula was cut off from the mainland in 1867 when the Mississippi changed its course, and agriculture became unprofitable because of transportation costs.[4][5] Jefferson Davis made one of his last public addresses to the people of Vicksburg in 1869 from the front balcony of the house.[2][3]

When the house was surveyed by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1936, it was owned by Mrs. William Joseph Vollor.[6] As of 2008 it serves as a bed and breakfast inn, with suites in the main house, servant's quarters, and carriage house.[2]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c "About Anchuca". Anchuca Mansion: Historic Mansion and Inn. Archived from the original on 2013-01-17. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
  3. ^ a b Darlene P. Copp (May–June 2004). "Mississippi's river queens: mansions and monuments mirror the Old South in Natchez and Vicksburg". Travel America: 2. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ "The papers of Jefferson Davis". Joseph Emory Davis: (1784-1870). Archived from the original on 3 February 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2008.
  5. ^ "Warren County". The MSGenWeb Project. Archived from the original on 2008-01-03. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
  6. ^ "Victor Wilson House, 1010 First East Street, Vicksburg, Warren County, MS". Historic American Buildings Survey. Retrieved 2008-02-08.