Welcome to Our Town!

Bertram and Carol, the owners of Vicksburg Old Town Tours, live in Vicksburg and are eager to provide a unique experience for you on your visit. They inspire learning by showing their passion and enthusiasm for the city of Vicksburg and its history. By using humor, anecdotes, and trivia, they make the city of Vicksburg come alive.

Bertram is the great-great grandson of Jefferson Davis and an expert on his ancestor and the Civil War. The Davises have a long and illustrious history in Warren County, dating back to 1809. Bertram is able to share the family stories and oral history that have been handed down through the generations. This perspective is found on all Vicksburg Old Town Tours.

Meet Our Hosts

Harley Caldwell

Duff Green Mansion

Harley is a native of Vicksburg, where she raised three children. She is the owner and proprietor of Duff Green Mansion in the historic district of Vicksburg and a graduate of Mississippi State University. Harley is an active member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, where she teaches high school Sunday school and sponsors CYO and is also active in many community endeavors, including Hester Flowers Garden Club and the Leadership Class of Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce. Harley also manages 29 agents of Coldwell Banker All Stars, LLC.

Rev. Sam Godfrey

Christ Episcopal Church

The Rev. Sam Godfrey has served as the Rector of Christ Episcopal Church since June 2011. Prior to that, he served as Vicar of Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church in Como, Mississippi. He holds degrees from Rhodes College, the University of Mississippi School of Law and the School of Theology at the University of the South at Sewanee. A native of Natchez, whose family has lived in this part of Mississippi for generations and helped found the first Episcopal Church in Mississippi, he has a deep and abiding love for Christ Episcopal Church and the history of this area.

Lisa Longfellow

Martha Vick House

Lisa and her family own the Martha Vick House which her father restored in the 1980s. After retiring in 2018, Lisa moved to Vicksburg to spend time with her father. Her mission is to continue her father’s legacy of preservation. She is enthusiastic about history, traveling, and meeting interesting people. Before moving to Vicksburg, Lisa earned a Master of Public Health degree from Tulane University. She worked for the Louisiana Department of Health for 34 years. When not working as a tour guide, Lisa enjoys cooking, entertaining, spending time with her family and making memories.

Patricia Rickrode

Baer House

Patricia moved from the Sierra Nevada foothills in California, where she was a former stock contractor who raised bucking bulls for the PBR. She also worked as a paralegal by day and an amateur thespian, singer, dancer, and musician by night. She and her husband owned a community theater, immersed in all aspects of theater management, production, and performances. Today, they are innkeepers at the Baer House Inn. A Disney fanatic, avid reader, world traveler, and lover of all things sparkly, she continues to write and publish novels in her spare time, under the pseudonym, Jansen Schmidt.

Meet Our Tour Guides

Leon

Leon began his career in Journalism at the Vicksburg Evening Post and then went on to work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg and then Washington DC, covering Army journalism where he won numerous journalism awards. He then taught communications/journalism at Central Oregon Community College. He has completed a six-month 2,552-mile solo Mississippi River canoe trip and is currently a Mississippi River canoe guide. He is a Bluegrass mandolin picker and fiddler. Leon is a published author and a hardcore, die-hard Vicksburg history nerd.

Karen

Karen was born and raised in Vicksburg, where her father was a fourth-generation son of the city and her mother was the daughter of Lebanese immigrants. She was a newspaper editor in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas for many years. She then went on to be an adjunct and full-time Community College Communications professor. Karen and her husband enjoy traveling in the U.S. and abroad. At home in Vicksburg, she enjoys reading, listening to classic country music, creating pottery and cooking. Karen is a dog person and loves meeting visitors to Vicksburg.

Janice

Janice was born into a large Vicksburg family and is a graduate of Vicksburg High School. She worked for the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers, where she oversaw budgets for the Waterways Experiment Station Engineering & Research Development Projects for many years. She mentors young women and teaches financial literacy. Janice is an active member of Faith Christian Center Church. She has an extreme passion for helping others and has never met a stranger. She also has an extreme love for the city of Vicksburg and loves sharing that with visitors to Vicksburg.

Jane

Jane is a lifelong resident of Vicksburg and her family has deep roots to Vicksburg’s history. Her great great-grandfather owned a Coffee House in Vicksburg before the Siege of Vicksburg. He died in 1859 and left her great grandfather to survive the siege. Jane taught at Hinds Community College for many years. She then went on to serve as the Executive Director of the Vicksburg’s Chamber of Commerce. Jane enjoys entertaining in her home, working in her flower garden, reading and traveling. She loves sharing with Vicksburg visitors what she learns as she researches her family history,

Dinah

Dinah’s education and employment has extensively been in interior design. She loves living in the small historic community of Vicksburg where she can attend church, shop, go to parties, weddings, art galleries and restaurants and conduct City and County business in beautiful old structures which embody Vicksburg’s past and defines its future. She enjoys painting-watercolor, golf, pickleball and travelling. She has been an advocate for preservation by volunteering for historic organizations and presenting lectures on historical topics which she loves to share with Vicksburg visitors.