Cedar Grove Mansion, Vicksburg, Mississippi

James N.

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Cedar Grove Mansion is one of Vicksburg's most historic and impressive Antebellum estates, and for those so inclined, a wonderful Bed-and-Breakfast establishment. Originally begun in 1840 by Vicksburg merchant John Alexander Klein for his soon-to-be bride Elizabeth Bartley Day, the central portion was completed in 1842 in time for the wedding of the thirty-year-old Klein to his sixteen-year-old bride the same year, following which they made the usual European tour, there buying many of the furnishings which remain in the house to this day, including the gasolier chandeliers.

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The spacious grounds include statuary which survived through the siege and bombardment of Vicksburg like the one below:
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Cedar Grove was never a working plantation but rather a large urban estate; however, the grounds as originally created included all the land seen in the picture below, growing from eight acres of land to over a hundred. Following the death of John Klein his widow allowed the city to cut a new street through the property right in front of the house across which had been a large, sloping lawn. The house on the corner, along with two others, had been built by the Kleins for their adult children when they married.

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Plaque beside the front door proclaims the house's historic status; one panel in the door has been patched with a piece of tin to cover the hole made by a piece of Union Navy grapeshot that has been left embedded in the wall of the front parlor!

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That parlor, seen below, also features a piece of plexiglass in the floor revealing another hole made by a low-flying shell that crashed through the front window before going through not only the floor but also a crossbeam! Supposedly, the house was struck no fewer than forty-two times, though other than chips in the brick exterior, those are the only ones that haven't been repaired.

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Fortunately for the Kleins, not only were they wealthy, but Elizabeth was a Northerner from Ohio and Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was her uncle! Following the siege, Sherman was a guest in the house and today one of the upstairs bedrooms is named in his honor. Another but later guest was President Ulysses S. Grant, for whom the bedroom below is also now named; this is speculation, however, because the ground-floor room below actually served as the Klein's master bedroom, and there is now no way of knowing if they gave it up to their distinguished guest. Amazingly, most of the antique furnishings belonged to the Kleins and are original to the house!

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A more-recently added room above now looks out towards the greenhouse and two-story carriage house in the background.

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Below, view of the backside of the estate, showing the additions made to both ends of the house in the 1850's.

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A more modern touch is the swimming pool and bathhouse above.

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Cedar Grove Mansion is one of Vicksburg's most historic and impressive Antebellum estates, and for those so inclined, a wonderful Bed-and-Breakfast establishment. Originally begun in 1840 by Vicksburg merchant John Alexander Klein for his soon-to-be bride Elizabeth Bartley Day, the central portion was completed in 1842 in time for the wedding of the thirty-year-old Klein to his sixteen-year-old bride the same year, following which they made the usual European tour, there buying many of the furnishings which remain in the house to this day, including the gasolier chandeliers.

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The spacious grounds include statuary which survived through the siege and bombardment of Vicksburg like the one below:
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Cedar Grove was never a working plantation but rather a large urban estate; however, the grounds as originally created included all the land seen in the picture below, growing from eight acres of land to over a hundred. Following the death of John Klein his widow allowed the city to cut a new street through the property right in front of the house across which had been a large, sloping lawn. The house on the corner, along with two others, had been built by the Kleins for their adult children when they married.

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Plaque beside the front door proclaims the house's historic status; one panel in the door has been patched with a piece of tin to cover the hole made by a piece of Union Navy grapeshot that has been left embedded in the wall of the front parlor!

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That parlor, seen below, also features a piece of plexiglass in the floor revealing another hole made by a low-flying shell that crashed through the front window before going through not only the floor but also a crossbeam! Supposedly, the house was struck no fewer than forty-two times, though other than chips in the brick exterior, those are the only ones that haven't been repaired.

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Fortunately for the Kleins, not only were they wealthy, but Elizabeth was a Northerner from Ohio and Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was her uncle! Following the siege, Sherman was a guest in the house and today one of the upstairs bedrooms is named in his honor. Another but later guest was President Ulysses S. Grant, for whom the bedroom below is also now named; this is speculation, however, because the ground-floor room below actually served as the Klein's master bedroom, and there is now no way of knowing if they gave it up to their distinguished guest. Amazingly, most of the antique furnishings belonged to the Kleins and are original to the house!

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A more-recently added room above now looks out towards the greenhouse and two-story carriage house in the background.

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Below, view of the backside of the estate, showing the additions made to both ends of the house in the 1850's.

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A more modern touch is the swimming pool and bathhouse above.

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Isn't that the home with the cannonball (actually a piece of grape shot) stuck in the floor?
That's a beautiful home!
 
Isn't that the home with the cannonball (actually a piece of grape shot) stuck in the floor?
That's a beautiful home!
The grapeshot is epoxied into the doorframe about 3'-4' from the floor, in line with the hole in the front door; what's in the floor is the plexiglass-covered hole made by another shell that went through the parlor floor and beam.
 
View attachment 332853

Cedar Grove Mansion is one of Vicksburg's most historic and impressive Antebellum estates, and for those so inclined, a wonderful Bed-and-Breakfast establishment. Originally begun in 1840 by Vicksburg merchant John Alexander Klein for his soon-to-be bride Elizabeth Bartley Day, the central portion was completed in 1842 in time for the wedding of the thirty-year-old Klein to his sixteen-year-old bride the same year, following which they made the usual European tour, there buying many of the furnishings which remain in the house to this day, including the gasolier chandeliers.

View attachment 332854
View attachment 332869

The spacious grounds include statuary which survived through the siege and bombardment of Vicksburg like the one below:
View attachment 332855View attachment 332856

Cedar Grove was never a working plantation but rather a large urban estate; however, the grounds as originally created included all the land seen in the picture below, growing from eight acres of land to over a hundred. Following the death of John Klein his widow allowed the city to cut a new street through the property right in front of the house across which had been a large, sloping lawn. The house on the corner, along with two others, had been built by the Kleins for their adult children when they married.

View attachment 332860
View attachment 333010

Plaque beside the front door proclaims the house's historic status; one panel in the door has been patched with a piece of tin to cover the hole made by a piece of Union Navy grapeshot that has been left embedded in the wall of the front parlor!

View attachment 333011

That parlor, seen below, also features a piece of plexiglass in the floor revealing another hole made by a low-flying shell that crashed through the front window before going through not only the floor but also a crossbeam! Supposedly, the house was struck no fewer than forty-two times, though other than chips in the brick exterior, those are the only ones that haven't been repaired.

View attachment 333015

Fortunately for the Kleins, not only were they wealthy, but Elizabeth was a Northerner from Ohio and Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was her uncle! Following the siege, Sherman was a guest in the house and today one of the upstairs bedrooms is named in his honor. Another but later guest was President Ulysses S. Grant, for whom the bedroom below is also now named; this is speculation, however, because the ground-floor room below actually served as the Klein's master bedroom, and there is now no way of knowing if they gave it up to their distinguished guest. Amazingly, most of the antique furnishings belonged to the Kleins and are original to the house!

View attachment 333013
View attachment 333012

A more-recently added room above now looks out towards the greenhouse and two-story carriage house in the background.

View attachment 333016

Below, view of the backside of the estate, showing the additions made to both ends of the house in the 1850's.

View attachment 332870
View attachment 332858
A more modern touch is the swimming pool and bathhouse above.

View attachment 332859
Here it is - but I am not sure if it is the original piece of "grape" or not. JamesN might recall.

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JamesN did a good job with these pics, so I thought I would add a couple of my own.

The first one is of the front veranda - second floor.

The second is of the parlor, where suppoedly you can sometimes smelll cigar smoke from the original owner. (?) JamesN and I did not smell any, though. If you will look at the lower right hand corner, you can see where the plexiglass covers a shell hole!

The last pic is of the back iron staircase, where the owners teenage som tried to run up, after accidentally shooting himself. Supposedly you can hear him running up the stairs. Again - James and I heard nothing. "Haints" could be al around us, and we'd never know it.

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I absolutely love this place and I'm so glad you've taken us on a tour of both the interior and exterior!

It has quite a history, and to think Grant actually slept there ... and Sherman who was the wife's uncle!

I wonder what the take was on that during the Siege of Vicksburg ... but, by all accounts and luckily the home and the people in it survived. Obviously not without an odd current reminder of what took place there.

This, and the cemetery at Natchez would now be high on my list when I come to visit, thanks to the awesome photographers and intrepid adventurers on this site.

I honestly think I've just fallen in love :inlove:

Would it be rude to ask what a night in this establishment cost?
 
I absolutely love this place and I'm so glad you've taken us on a tour of both the interior and exterior!

It has quite a history, and to think Grant actually slept there ... and Sherman who was the wife's uncle!

I wonder what the take was on that during the Siege of Vicksburg ... but, by all accounts and luckily the home and the people in it survived. Obviously not without an odd current reminder of what took place there.

This, and the cemetery at Natchez would now be high on my list when I come to visit, thanks to the awesome photographers and intrepid adventurers on this site.

I honestly think I've just fallen in love :inlove:

Would it be rude to ask what a night in this establishment cost?

Here is the website - you can check the prices for the different rooms.

 
My wife and I stayed there this past July. Seems like a lot was done in the meantime since our stay. No water in the pool, many amenities were closed, washer and dryer were in an open area and completely dirty. And no Wi-Fi in the rooms.

Despite some of those minor annoyances, we enjoyed our stay there.
 
I absolutely love this place and I'm so glad you've taken us on a tour of both the interior and exterior!

It has quite a history, and to think Grant actually slept there ... and Sherman who was the wife's uncle!

I wonder what the take was on that during the Siege of Vicksburg ... but, by all accounts and luckily the home and the people in it survived. Obviously not without an odd current reminder of what took place there.

This, and the cemetery at Natchez would now be high on my list when I come to visit, thanks to the awesome photographers and intrepid adventurers on this site.

I honestly think I've just fallen in love :inlove:

Would it be rude to ask what a night in this establishment cost?
We heard a somewhat disturbing rumor that it's currently FOR SALE! The real disturbing part was the reported cost - a truly measly $750,000 That supposedly includes not only the house and all the ORIGINAL furnishings - in themselves easily worth the reported cost - but the five or more acres of land on which it sits, the outbuildings like the carriage house, and five or so 1960's "cottages" across the street! On the downside, while eating breakfast on one of our drizzly days, there was a puddle of water along one wall in the added-on dining room (NOT the original house dining room) where water had dripped in from the ceiling. It obviously needs at least a bit of renovation - I think I remember hearing a figure of around $300,000 - but still, around $1,000,000 for such a place seems reasonable!
 
My wife and I stayed there this past July. Seems like a lot was done in the meantime since our stay. No water in the pool, many amenities were closed, washer and dryer were in an open area and completely dirty. And no Wi-Fi in the rooms.

Despite some of those minor annoyances, we enjoyed our stay there.
I had another I wasn't going to mention because I doubt this was really anybody's fault - but I woke up around 2 am on the last morning with something "brushing" against my face - it turned out to be a very friendly giant cockroach! It was SO domesticated it didn't even try to run away, no doubt much to its everlasting regret. Hey, it's Mississippi!
 
We heard a somewhat disturbing rumor that it's currently FOR SALE!
:eek:

No! Tell me it ain't so ... not when I'm planning to spend a night in the Grant room :cry:

still, around $1,000,000 for such a place seems reasonable!
Absolutely, and if I had a million dollars I'd buy it!

I hope some wise investor does ... what a treasure :inlove:

Don't forget to add in the cockroach killing fee :laugh:
 
I had another I wasn't going to mention because I doubt this was really anybody's fault - but I woke up around 2 am on the last morning with something "brushing" against my face - it turned out to be a very friendly giant cockroach! It was SO domesticated it didn't even try to run away, no doubt much to its everlasting regret. Hey, it's Mississippi!
Umm....my wife has a photo of the one that was in our tub one morning. Can't be the same one because that one is chirping with the ancestors now. Likely a cousin!
 
I had another I wasn't going to mention because I doubt this was really anybody's fault - but I woke up around 2 am on the last morning with something "brushing" against my face - it turned out to be a very friendly giant cockroach! It was SO domesticated it didn't even try to run away, no doubt much to its everlasting regret. Hey, it's Mississippi!

I was awakened by a couple of shrieks from James and I thought a ghost had entered the room.
 
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