Father Ryan House

The house on West Beach Boulevard dated from 1841 and was later advertised as a home of Abram Ryan, the priest and poet called the Poet Laureate of the Confederacy. His poem "The Conquered Banner," printed in June 1865, made him a favorite of Lost Cause memory. Ryan spoke out against abolition, and historians disagree on whether he ever served as a Confederate chaplain. The house became a bed-and-breakfast with a palm tree growing through its front steps. Katrina destroyed it on August 29, 2005; only the palm was left.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Biloxi Lighthouse — 0.5 mi
  A cast-iron tower lit in 1848 on the Biloxi beachfront, kept by women for most of its first century and still in service after Camille and Katrina.
• Biloxi Beach Wade-In Marker — 0.5 mi
  The beachfront parking lot beside the Biloxi Lighthouse where state markers recall the 1959 and 1960 wade-ins that opened Mississippi's public beaches to Black residents.
• Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art — 2.2 mi
  Frank Gehry's pavilions on the Biloxi waterfront, built around the pottery of George Ohr, the self-styled Mad Potter, and the rebuilt Pleasant Reed House.
• Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum — 3.0 mi
  A Point Cadet museum on Biloxi's oyster, shrimp and schooner past, from the packing houses and the shrimpers' unions to the Vietnamese families who rebuilt the industry.

More markers nearby

• White House Hotel — steps away
• Moran Site — 0.4 mi
• Cathedral of the Nativity (B.V.M.) — 1.1 mi
• The Magnolia Hotel — 1.2 mi