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Windsor Ruins 

Approximately fourteen miles southwest of Port Gibson, Mississippi stand the stark ruins of Windsor.  Smith Coffee Daniel II completed construction of Windsor in 1861 and ironically died only weeks after its completion.  The mansion survived the Civil War only to be destroyed by accidental fire on February 17, 1890.  All was lost except for the columns and the ironwork.  One flight of metal stairs from Windsor is now installed at Oakland Chapel on the campus of nearby Alcorn State University.

These stately columns are all that remain of Windsor, one of the most magnificent homes in the antebellum South. Windsor, the home of Smith Coffee Daniell, II, a wealthy planter, was built between 1859-1861.

Windsor survived the war and became a prominent landmark along the Mississippi River. Mark Twain wrote of its elegance in Life on the Mississippi. But its elegance did not last for Windsor was destroyed by fire in 1890 when a party guest threw a lit cigarette into a waste basket. Windsor ruins were later immortalized by Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Cliff in the film "Raintree County."

The panoramic graphic at the top of this site was made by Ann Geoghegan from an artist rendering of what Windsor probably looked like and another drawing of the columns remaining today.

Grand Gulf State Park

Claiborne County Sites on the National Register of Historic Places

Bethel Presbyterian Church--Alcorn

Canemount--Alcorn

Catledge Archeological Site--Alcorn

Oakland Chapel--Alcorn

Smithfield Site--Bruinsburg

Alcorn State University Historic District--Lorman

Bayou Pierre Site--Port Gibson

Buena Vista Cotton Gin--Port Gibson

Building at 801 Chinquepin Street--Port Gibson

Catholic Cemetery--Port Gibson

Chamberlain-Hunt Academy Historic District--Port Gibson

Claremont--Port Gibson

Collina--Port Gibson

Drake Hill Historic District--Port Gibson

Golden West Cemetery--Port Gibson

Grand Gulf Military State Park--Port Gibson

Hollyrood--Port Gibson

Idlewild--Port Gibson

Jewish Cemetery--Port Gibson

Market Street-Suburb Saint Mary Historic District--Port Gibson

McGregor--Port Gibson

Old Brickyard Place--Port Gibson

Old Depot Restaraunt and Lounge--Port Gibson

Old Natchez Trace (132-3T)--Port Gibson

Port Gibson Battlefield--Port Gibson

Port Gibson Oil Works Mill Building--Port Gibson

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church--Port Gibson

Van Dorn House--Port Gibson

Widow`s Creek Bridge--Port Gibson

Windsor Ruins--Port Gibson

Windsor Site--Port Gibson

Wintergreen Cemetery--Port Gibson

Centers Creek Mound--Russum

Owens Creek Bridge--Utica

John Nelson Site--Willows