1848 Pass Christian Mansion, Pre-Katrina Five-Star Restaurant
120 W Scenic Dr, Pass Christian, MS 39571
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Event-rental pricing; the Blue Rose now operates as a wedding and event venue. Brunch service is offered Sundays.
Access
Limited Access
Antebellum Gulf Coast mansion with stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1848 · Pass Christian Antebellum Mansion · Pre-Katrina Five-Star Gulf Coast Restaurant · Post-Katrina Adaptive-Reuse Recovery
The Blue Rose Mansion at 120 W Scenic Drive in Pass Christian, Mississippi, was built in 1848 as a private residence on the Mississippi Sound. The mansion is one of several surviving antebellum-period residences in the Pass Christian/Bay St. Louis section of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Philip LaGrange and Herbert Pursley purchased the property in 1990 and opened a combined operation that included an antique store, restaurant, and gift shop. Before Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the Blue Rose restaurant was a five-star Gulf Coast destination that attracted movie stars and dignitaries.
Following Katrina, the Blue Rose did not reopen as a full restaurant. The mansion has since operated as a wedding and event venue with a grand ballroom and honeymoon suite, as the home of an online antique store, and more recently as a bed and breakfast. The property continues to offer Sunday brunch and has periodically been listed for sale; WLOX and Gulf Coast Weekend have covered its history.
Sources
Local Pass Christian retellings of the Blue Rose center on a female figure seen in mirrors inside the mansion and outside the building. In the regional tradition the figure is connected to a woman who owned the property in the early 1900s. Local tradition holds that she tripped on her dress while chasing her fiance — who in the retelling had broken off their engagement and left with another woman — and fell down the stairs, dying of a broken neck.
The figure is described in retellings as having been mistaken for a staged reenactment by some visitors, given the mansion's event-venue programming. These accounts circulate in regional Mississippi Gulf Coast ghost-tourism coverage rather than in named-investigator publications.
The Blue Rose's primary present-day identity is as a wedding and event venue with brunch service, and the haunted reputation is part of regional Pass Christian color rather than the property's primary identity.
Attend the Blue Rose's Sunday brunch, the property's continuing dining offering after the original five-star restaurant did not reopen following Hurricane Katrina. The 1848 mansion is also available for events and as a bed and breakfast.
The Blue Rose has operated as a bed and breakfast in recent years and offers a honeymoon suite and access to its grand ballroom.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
St. Louis, MO
The Lemp Mansion was built in 1868 at 3322 DeMenil Place in St. Louis, serving as the residence and later brewery office headquarters of the Lemp brewing dynasty. Between 1904 and 1949, four members of the family died by suicide within the property, ending one of America's most prominent pre-Prohibition brewing empires.
Vicksburg, MS
The McNutt House at 815 First East Street in Vicksburg was built in 1826 and is among the oldest surviving homes in the city. Alexander Gallatin McNutt — Mississippi's 12th governor — purchased it in 1829 and added the rear wing in 1832. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it now operates as a tour home and bed-and-breakfast with multi-suite accommodations.
St. Francisville, LA
Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana was built in 1796 by General David Bradford on land he received after fleeing federal prosecution following the Whiskey Rebellion. The property changed hands multiple times throughout the 19th century, accumulating a documented history of violent deaths including the 1871 murder of attorney William Winter on the entrance staircase.