Anchuca is now serving as a tour home and as a Bed and Breakfast. It was added to the US National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
From the Anchuca Mansion website: (
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"Anchuca, a Choctaw Indian word meaning "happy home," is one of the most significant antebellum homes in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this impressive Greek Revival landmark represents the first columned mansion in Vicksburg and the first historic home to become one of Mississippi's finest bed and breakfast inns. Surrounded by stately live oaks and located in the heart of Vicksburg's Historic District, Anchuca was built in 1830 by local politician J. W. Mauldin. In 1847, Victor Wilson, a local coal and ice merchant added the columned front and the two-story dependency in back. Standing proud through the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863, the house was put into service providing shelter for those who had suffered severely through the War.
Joseph Emory Davis, patriarchal brother to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, the owner of the magnificent Hurricane Plantation located in Warren County, Mississippi, and a great American pioneer in his own right, lived here until his death on September 18, 1870, at the age of 87. Jefferson Davis was reunited with his brother (and father figure) at the home in January 1869. The town's legend testifies that it was during this stay that Jefferson Davis did indeed speak to friends and neighbors from Anchuca's front balcony, marking this site for many historians and Southerners alike as one of the last public addresses to the people of Vicksburg by Jefferson Davis.
Today, Anchuca's bold, impressive exterior gives way to an elegantly refined yet comfortably inviting interior. The antebellum home is handsomely furnished with fine antiques and art representing the late 1700s to the mid-1800s. Anchuca stands in grand tribute to Vicksburg's rich history and offers its bed and breakfast guests a sensuous escape complete with a hearty dose of Southern hospitality."
From the National Register Nomination Form: (
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"Anchuca is one of the most architecturally significant Greek Revival residences of Vicksburg, Mississippi. The house derives its architectural significance from its brick front section which is antedated by a frame section adjacent to the rear. Stylistically, the late Greek Revival, brick, front section appears to date from about 1855 and was probably constructed for Victor and Jane Wilson, who purchased the first parcel of property in 1849 (Warren County Deed Book W:381) and acquired adjoining property in 1855 (Deed Book Z:40). Victor Wilson, a merchant, was originator of an ice and coal company in Vicksburg and was one of the town's most influential citizens (Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi [Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891], I, 518 and II, 794). This section of the house is well executed and beautifully detailed on both the interior and exterior, and, like Vicksburg's Cedar Grove, displays the unusual local architectural feature of an undercut gallery with giant-order columns supporting a full, molded entablature. The interior integrity of the Greek Revival front section is excellent and the exterior integrity is compromised only by the alteration of the entrance doorway and the gallery floor. The frame section, although severely altered, contains millwork characteristic of the mid-1830's, and documentary evidence indicates that this portion of the house was standing by 1836 when it was described as being the residence of Jane Collins (Deed Book 1:6). Local tradition maintains that Joseph Davis, brother of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, occupied Anchuca after his residence on Hurricane Plantation south of Vicksburg was burned by the Union Army. The house is open to the public daily and as part of the Vicksburg pilgrimage house tour, and it has long been important to the citizens of the town as a tangible reminder of the prosperity of their town before the Civil War.