The White House of the Confederacy
The house was home to Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, and his family from August, 1861, until the evacuation of Richmond on April 2, 1865. It served as the political and social epicenter of wartime Richmond.
With the end of the war, the house was headquarters for the U.S. army of occupation and became headquarters for Military District No. 1 during Reconstruction. In 1870, the U.S. Government gave the house back to the City of Richmond, which used the building for its Central School until 1894. The Confederate Memorial Literary Society took possession of the property and established the Confederate Museum in the building, which opened its doors to the public in February, 1896.
In 1976 a new museum building was opened and restoration was begun to bring the appearance of the house back to the period of the Civil War. The restored house was opened to the public in June, 1988. On September 30, 2018, the museum building closed, to give collections staff time to pack up the collection for its move to the Museum's new facility at Historic Tredegar. The White House remains open daily for tours.
The White House currently holds a large number of furnishings and artifacts that were in the house with the Davis family. All of the remaining items are original to the period, except for the textiles which are reproductions based on original fabrics or period patterns.