Katrina wasn’t kind to the last residence of Jefferson Davis, but plans to resurrect Beauvoir are moving forward.

A director of the group that oversees the Biloxi mansion, library and grounds addressed the Vicksburg Lions Club last week.

&#8220It’s harder to work on a National Historic Landmark than anything else,” said Robert Murphree, a Jackson native and a member of the Mississippi Division, United Sons of Confederate Veterans, which has preserved Beauvoir for more than a century.

Today is Confederate Memorial Day, a state holiday, and the home fronting the Mississippi Sound might have been busy with tourists. Instead, an architect is drafting plans to rebuild the main structures on the estate.

Included will be the Presidential Library and visitors center, largely destroyed by the storm surge and raging winds last Aug. 29.

In addition to the barracks and director’s residence, the mansion’s front porch was also wiped out, its supporting piers gone to the Gulf of Mexico.

&#8220That and many of the artifacts are gone to the wind and water,” Murphree said.

In keeping with rules that govern the rebuilding of protected sites, all parts of the structure must be rebuilt &#8220exactly like it was,” Murphree said, noting one small concession that its directors were able to win from the National Park Service.

Directors wanted to use concrete piers with steel reinforcement, he said, a design that would deviate from the original.

&#8220We had a big rhubarb over that. Finally, they said, well OK,” Murphree said.

Murphree said a spell of drier weather that followed Katrina allowed them to seal and protect the roof on the mansion and Presidential Library, with the threat of mold being &#8220something we’ve fought nonstop” in his 14 trips to the Gulf Coast since the storm.

Murphree also praised the scores of National Guard troops from across the nation who cleaned up debris blocking roadways and student volunteers, some from as far away as Minnesota, who combed the property inch by inch trying to save the smallest artifacts, Murphree said.

&#8220The debris all over made it a real expedition just to get from one part of the property to the other,” Murphree said.

As for funding Beauvoir’s restoration, much of the money will come from grants sought by historic preservation groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has lobbied for $60 million in funds to help repair damaged historic structures and tax credits for primary residents of historic homes and historic commercial property.

Another source will be private donations, some of which have totaled in the tens of thousands from charities and celebrities. One such source offered to store at no cost the portraits that were recovered.

Other notable donations came from novelist and Mississippi native John Grisham and Donald Trump, Murphree said.

Located on U.S. 90 near the beach in Biloxi, the 500-acre estate contained Davis’ presidential papers and an extensive library on Southern history.

Developed by planter-entrepreneur James Brown, the property was named for the French term &#8220beautiful view” by Natchez-born author Sarah Anne Ellis Dorsey, who received the property in 1873 from the Brown family.

Dorsey invited Davis, released from prison after the Civil War, to write his memoirs there. Davis lived on the estate until his death on Dec. 6, 1889.

Davis’ wife, Varina, sold the central portion of the property to the Mississippi Division, United Sons of Confederate Veterans in 1902 for use as a memorial to Davis and a home for Confederate veterans. From 1903 to 1957, about 2,000 veterans received care at Beauvoir.

Thanks to its raised cottage-style design, Beauvoir survived not only the Civil War but also Hurricane Camille in 1969 with damage only to the museum housed underneath the structure.

An extensive fundraising drive was mounted afterward, with both a state appropriation and a large amount of Beauvoir funds used toward the effort of restoring the damaged areas of the property.

A two-decades-long effort to build a comprehensive Presidential Library culminated in 1998 with the construction of a 13,500-square-foot building featuring research materials, original family documents from the Davis family and vintage uniforms worn by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War.

In addition to being a National Historic Landmark, Beauvoir is a Mississippi Historical Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.