A Piece of the Past Preserved...

We made serious progress today! Started early by mounting and installing the ten foot 'working' shutters on the front windows. They actually open and close. They were made to specs by Thad Pratt, Vicksburg Woodworks, who also made the windows and provided all of the milled lumber. 

Got the front sidewalk poured and it looks so much better than the other one now buried under that red fill sand.

A "Robin's Egg Blue" Porch Ceiling

It's an old Southern tradition to paint the ceiling of one's porch blue. In our case....."Robin's Egg Blue." Some say it's "because grandmother did it," others say it's a calming, cooling color which makes you feel better. What I've heard is bugs (wasps, mosquitoes, flies, dirt-dabbers) think the blue is the sky....and that they aren't protected from predators above....so they don't chose to hang around that 'sky' looking ceiling. And then there are those that believe the blue protects the house from 'haints' and makes the house 'safer'. Have you heard of the color "haint blue"?

So, as you can see, the ceiling of the new portico is blue! It seems to blend well with the 'Gull Wing Gray" and the "Timid White". Don't you love paint color names?

Look closely when you pass next. Hopefully there won't be any bugs or haints to spoil your view!!

Former Residents Return to The Duncan House

As you can see, we made some progress this week.  The colors you see are basically 'true', so it's gray with white trim.  The colors were analyzed by a paint specialist from Williamsburg.  One of the samples had NINETEEN coats of paint...and another had 17.  That's from 158 years.  The base color of the house is Gull Wing Gray and the trim is "Timid White."

But we have bigger news!  We have former residents returning to The Duncan House, and no, it's not General Rosecrans nor General Beauregard ....it's Tom and Nita Parson, former residents of The Duncan House.  Months ago we had a meeting of the minds and all agreed that they would return and be residents again, as soon as it was possible.

HISTORICAL MARKER IS ORDERED!!

I'm excited to report the official State of Mississippi, Department of Archives and History historical marker for the Duncan House has been ordered. The few sentences being cast in aluminum for the marker have been researched, studied, and hammered out by both the National Park Service and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. These words tell a remarkable story of Corinth as well as the Duncan House and how all this history fits together.  The inscription will read:

THE DUNCAN HOUSE

Built in 1857 by William L. Duncan, the 

Duncan House was the headquarters of

Confederate general P.G.T. Beauregard

after the battle of Shiloh. In June 1862, 

Union general William Rosecrans made the 

house his headquarters during the battle 

of Corinth. It was later occupied by

Maj. Noel Howard of the 2nd Iowa Infantry

and used as a telegraph office. After the 

war, Pvt. Thomas Duncan, a Confederate 

soldier with the "Tishomingo Rangers,"

returned to his boyhood home and

began writing his "Recollections" here. 

Just a bit of explanation which you likely know already. When the war began, Corinth was in Confederate hands. General Beauregard was headquartered at the Fishpond House (Johnny Spencer's home on Kilpatrick Street). After General Albert Sidney Johnson was killed in the Battle of Shiloh, Beauregard became commander of the Confederates. When he retreated back to Corinth from Shiloh, Beauregard took the Duncan House as his headquarters. Interestingly, the Federals took nearly two months to come the 20 miles from Shiloh to Corinth, digging in every night. In one of the greatest 'ruses' of the war, when the Federals finally marched into town in late May, 1862, they were greeted by an empty village. Beauregard had evacuated his entire command. General William Rosecrans, the commander of the Federals, moved into Beauregard's recently vacated headquarters, the Duncan House. After Beauregard's withdrawal, the Federals controlled Corinth until the War's end.