Page 141 - South Mississippi Living - August, 2024

It was such a pleasure to meet our First Lady of Mississippi, if albeit briefly, at
a fundraiser recently on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Elee Reeves was the speaker for the Biscuits for Babies Fundraiser
on May 17 to raise awareness and funds for the Women’s Resource Center in
Gulfport.
I chatted with her for a few minutes
explaining that I wanted to write an article about the East Garden at the
Governor’s Mansion in Jackson. She told me how to get in touch with her
Chief of Staff, and I was beyond excited for the opportunity.
I thought it would be lovely to take you all on a day trip to Jackson with me to tour our Governor’s Mansion and Gardens and choose a lovely place for lunch. Please join me as I document
an honestly wonderful day trip to our Historical Mississippi Past and Present.
The Mississippi Governor’s Mansion is the official residence of the
Governor of Mississippi. It was designed by architect William Nichols, and it is the second-oldest governor’s residence in active use in
the nation; the only older governor’s residence of longer use is that of
Virginia. It is great to visit as it is a superb example of Greek Revival architecture.
It was declared a Mississippi Landmark in 1986.
Some famous people that have visited or stayed in our Governor’s Mansion include B.B. King and John F. Kennedy. General Sherman and some of his Union men even celebrated in the dining room after the Civil War!
Throughout the mansion hangs circa 1860 copies of Thomas Cole’s famous paintings in four parts entitled Voyage of Life. He painted these between 1839 and 1840. This four-part series is allegorical using the river to portray birth and childhood in the first painting, youth and teenage years in the second painting, trials of adulthood in the third painting, and finally, death in old age in the fourth
painting.
Cole’s original paintings
can be found in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC and in the Munson-Williams- Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, New York.
The garden is truly a
wonderful part of the
tour and is beautiful
this time of year. It
takes up the east side
of the mansion and
encompasses a stone walkway through a narrow strip of plants and flowers with stone benches at the end of the garden by the Limonaia. The cutting garden, located near the benches, was established in 2013 and is currently maintained by the Garden Club of Jackson.
Connecting the cutting garden to the east garden is the Meditation Garden, which the beautiful Limonaia serves as center point for. A Limonaia is the Italian term for a conservatory where lemon trees are grown or kept when the outside weather is not good for them. Our modern term today for this is, of course, a greenhouse.
The garden is well-maintained and filled with plants naturalized to Mississippi and our region including Rose of Sharon, Lenten Rose, Climbing Hydrangea, Boxwoods, and Lemon Trees, as well
as some gorgeous tractor seat plants. There are Pecan, Oak, and Hackberry trees, some of which are over 150 years old. The intent of the garden is to make it like a “snapshot of a Mississippi home garden,” according to www. gardenclubsofmississippi.com.
Perennials abound in the garden: Chrysanthemums, Black-Eyed Susans, three varieties of Daffodils, Daisies, Asters, Gladiolas, and the beautiful Day Lily. Some annuals are interspersed in the garden to add color all year: Zinnias, Snapdragons, Violas.
The garden has grown thanks to many
generous
organizations: Garden Clubs of Mississippi, “Dimes for the Mansion,” Mississippi Federated Women’s Clubs, Garden Club of Jackson, Friends of the Mansion, and the Governor’s Mansion Landscape Fund. The Friends of the Mansion group, spearheaded by the first lady, is largely open to any community members and allocates private funding through various events that take place on the mansion’s grounds. Information about the Friends of the Mansion can be found on Facebook on the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion page.
Tours of the mansion and garden are available Tuesday through Thursday at 9:30, 10, and 10:30 a.m. You can request a tour online at mansioncurator@mdah. ms.gov. Reservations are required for all visitors and admission is free.
After your tour, there are many places in Jackson to have a great lunch and relax. Some of my favorites include The Manship Wood-Fired Kitchen, Saltine Restaurant, The Pig and Pint, and Char.
I hope that before the summer ends, you and your family can take a day to travel north to Jackson from the Coast and tour the Governor’s Mansion and Garden in our great state, then end with a relaxing lunch.
p
Happy Gardening!
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