Dixie White House
Pass Christian, Harrison County, Mississippi
Marker Inscription
Dixie "White House." Built by John Backe of New Orleans in 1851. Here in 1913 Pres. Woodrow Wilson and family spent winter vacation as guests of the owner, Miss Alice Herndon. Mississippi Department of Archives and History, 2008.
Erected by Mississippi Department of Archives and History
The Story
Built in 1851 by John Backe of New Orleans, this Pass Christian home hosted President Woodrow Wilson and his family for a winter vacation in 1913, as guests of owner Miss Alice Herndon. The stay gave the house its enduring nickname, the "Dixie White House." The Mississippi Department of Archives and History placed the marker in 2008.
Why it matters
It records a moment when the Gulf Coast served as a presidential retreat, linking a graceful antebellum home to the office of the presidency.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Long before it earned a presidential nickname, this stretch of the Mississippi Gulf Coast was a place where wealthy New Orleanians came to escape the heat, the crowds, and the summer fevers of the city. Pass Christian, with its pine-scented air and easy access by water and later by rail, became a fashionable resort town in the nineteenth century, lined with graceful homes built for leisure.
When this house went up in 1851, the antebellum coast was at the height of that resort culture. Homes like it were designed to catch the Gulf breeze, with broad porches and tall windows made for shade and conversation. They belonged to a world of steamboats and sailing packets that connected the coast to New Orleans a short journey away.
By the early twentieth century, the Progressive Era had reshaped the nation's politics, but the coast still held its old role as a retreat. It was into this settled, gracious world that a sitting president arrived for a winter's rest, bringing the office of the presidency to a quiet Mississippi shore.
People & events
The house was built in 1851 by John Backe of New Orleans, a reminder of how closely tied this coast was to the great port city just to the west. For decades it stood as a private home, one of many handsome residences that gave Pass Christian its reputation.
Its most famous chapter came in the winter of 1913, when President Woodrow Wilson and his family stayed here as guests of the owner, Miss Alice Herndon. A president choosing to spend a winter vacation on the Gulf Coast was no small thing for a small town, and the visit left a mark that outlasted the season.
Out of that stay came the nickname that endures: the "Dixie White House." The name captures the moment a Southern resort home briefly became a place where the nation's chief executive worked, rested, and lived. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History marked the site in 2008, ensuring the story would not be lost.
Its place in the American story
American presidents have long sought places to escape Washington, and the informal "summer" or "winter White Houses" they chose became part of the country's political geography. This house belongs to that tradition, a private home that took on national meaning the moment a president crossed its threshold.
Wilson's stay here reminds us that the presidency travels with the person who holds it. When a president rested on this coast, the region became, for a time, a place from which the nation was watched and led, even at leisure.
The site also speaks to the Gulf Coast's role in the wider American story as a place of retreat and renewal. A graceful antebellum home, linked to the highest office in the land, ties this small Mississippi town to the sweep of national history.
If you visit
Come to Pass Christian ready to slow down, because that easygoing pace is exactly what drew a president here more than a century ago. Stand where the house looks toward the water and imagine a winter spent watching the Gulf, far from the pressures of the capital.
The marker rewards a moment of quiet reading. Let it prompt you to picture the town as a resort in its heyday, when families arrived for the season and homes like this one filled with company.
It makes an easy stop on a coastal drive through Harrison County, where history hides in plain sight along tree-lined streets. Pair it with a stroll near the shore, and let the setting do the storytelling.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Woodrow Wilson
- · John Backe
- · Alice Herndon
Themes & tags
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