The peninsula was separated from the mainland by a shift in the river in March 1867 , after which it was an island accessible only by water . After the war , Davis provided a mortgage to Ben Montgomery , his former slave who had managed his plantation , and other freedmen , to acquire both plantations . They operated them for several years , but declining cotton prices , economic hard times in the financial panic , and the repeated flooding caused failure . Davis heirs foreclosed on the note , forcing Montgomery descendants and others to leave the island . After several years of litigation , in 1878 Jefferson Davis gained legal possession of Brierfield plantation from his brother 's heirs . He never lived at the plantation again ; both he and other Davis family members leased the properties to tenant farmers . Their only access was by water . Following the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 , which inundated nearly 30,000 square miles , the US Army Corps of Engineers raised the height of the levees to try to prevent such damage in the future . This had the unintended consequence of increasing the severity of flooding of Davis Island . It has been under water more than once . The Davis family finally sold the properties in 1953 , and the private Brierfield Hunting Club has controlled most of the island since then . Access is only by water
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
Davis Island (Mississippi)