FAQs & Policies

Rick and Harley Caldwell have lived at Steele Cottage for 42 years. Rick says it is haunted. Harley says Rick used to drink a lot.

It first appears in the tax records in 1933. It was built speculatively and didn’t sell, so it became a rental property.

Mr. Steele bought it for his bride prior to the Civil War. She didn’t want a two-story home and boarded up the downstairs after his death. No one used the downstairs for 94 years.

Harley Caldwell’s late mother, Mary Lou Halpin, grew up at what is now Anchuca Mansion and Inn. She would walk past Steele Cottage on her way to the “sisters’ school,” now the Southern Cultural Heritage buildings. She used to say to her friends, “When I grow up, I am going to live in that house.”

The last Steele grandchild died when Harley was three. The upstairs and downstairs were not connected, and the Halpins eventually passed on the major renovations that were needed. The home came up for sale again when Harley was 20. By then, a staircase had been added along with a downstairs kitchen. Her parents didn’t even come back for a second look — they bought it immediately.

Shortly after Jack Halpin’s death in 1984, the Caldwells came to spend six weeks with her mother while they closed on their new home. Harley enjoyed living with her mother, who had domestic help and even babysat herself. Harley had a great life until she couldn’t live with her mother any longer.

They eventually talked Mae-Mae into moving and have been working on Steele Cottage ever since. When Harley and Rick purchased the Duff Green Mansion in 2015, the Caldwell children asked their parents not to sell Steele Cottage, where they had grown up. The children did not include any money with the request.

The transformation into a guest home was easy — just one door at the bottom of the steps. The Caldwells and their dachshund, Sarah Bailey, live downstairs.

The only indoor cistern in Vicksburg — and a computer (currently no printer). The password is 1201.

Official check-in is between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m., but you may have your room as soon as it is ready. Please call to confirm that your room is ready unless you are arriving at 3:00 p.m. or later. We guarantee it will be ready then.

We do not keep staff on site at Steele Cottage. You will enter using the lockbox to the right of the front door and then find another lockbox to the right of your room door. We will send you the codes on the day of check-in.

Yes. You may use the lockboxes at any time. Please remember that when arriving late, there may be other guests upstairs or downstairs.

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You may cancel up until the morning of the third day before check-in.

Your card will be charged after the three-day cancellation period closes.

Breakfast is at 8:30 a.m. at the Duff Green Mansion, 1114 First East Street.

Immediately following breakfast.

The TVs at Steele Cottage operate through Direct TV. There are usually no problems. If you experience trouble, first turn the TV off and back on. If that doesn’t resolve the issue, please call us at 601-636-6968.

You have pool privileges at the Duff Green Mansion, 1114 First East Street. It closes when other guests complain that you are making too much noise.

None. We provide water, an ice machine, and coffee for breakfast in your shared living room.

Unfortunately, no.