Friday, February 12, 2016

Flannery O'Connor's Childhood Home

After I came home from caring for my daughter, my husband decided I needed a short vacation, so he took me to Savannah. I’d always wanted to go to Savannah. And then, I discovered Flannery O’Connor’s childhood home is in Savannah. And they give tours! (If you decide to visit, the times and days are very limited, so check before you go.)

We had a wonderful docent, who even knew Ms. O’Connor’s mother, Regina! So she knew all about the family, though she never met Flannery because she passed away before the docent was born.


The living room where young Flannery and her friends would gather to listen to radio shows on Saturday morning. The stories were scary Grimm-type fairy tales. (The radio is behind me, to the right.)

 
Here is Flannery’s bedroom. Apparently, she used to push her bed against the open window in the summer. Her mother wasn’t thrilled. It’s on the second story of the house.

 









This is a children’s coop. Babies and toddlers slept inside to help protect them from mosquitoes, which spread yellow fever. When Flannery was older, she repurposed the coop. An indulgent aunt bought Flannery a bantam rooster and hen for pets. Although the chickens belonged outside, Flannery put her chickens inside the children’s coop and could wheel them wherever she wanted.

BTW, did you know Flannery was famous long before she wrote? She taught her rooster to walk backwards. Her indulgent aunt (also wealthy and well-connected) made a phone call and a film crew came from New York and filmed her rooster walking backwards. The film was a short, which movie houses played before the main movie.

You can watch it here:




Here is a picture of the bathroom (obviously the commode is recent). Flannery used to fill the bathtub with pillows and decorate the bathroom, including commode with greenery. Then she and her friends would sit in the bathtub and read aloud. Grimm's Fairy Tales and young Flannery's own writing.





Here’s my husband standing in Mr. and Mrs. O’Connors’ bedroom. There is a scene in one of Flannery's short stories where a child stands out of sight, eavesdropping. Likely, this inspired it. Below this window is a main street and a beautiful square. Flannery may have done some eavesdropping in her time.



And the staircase in the house. I love stairs.





Below is a final photo (though I have many more). This is a photograph of Flannery reading a book as a young child. I love it.!



10 comments:

  1. Can't wait to see it myself! Missed it last time:(.

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  2. Very cool! I love "lesser known" historic houses--not only do they give us a peek at a favorite author, artist, or historical figure, but they do a great job showing other angles of the past.

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    1. Absolutely. And because it's lesser known, the docents have extra time to talk, share their memories, and answer questions.

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  3. We toured quite a few places when we visited Savannah some years ago, but missed seeing O'Conner's home. It's totally cool that you were actually able to go into the rooms and get up close and personal with the things in there. Most of the historical homes we've ever visited have the rooms cordoned off. Lot of looking, but no touching.

    That old film clip is great. And it's amazing it's still around, and you were able to find it!

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    1. My husband and I asked a couple of times, "Are you sure we can touch these things?" There were only one of two artifacts we weren't allowed to touch.

      The docent told me how to find the movie clip. Like I said, she was great!

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  4. What fun tidbits you learned. Clearly I need to work on being more eccentric. I feel quite dull compared to Flannery!

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    1. The docent told us quite a bit about Flannery's aunt, who provided the house and a job for her father. She was also quite the eccentric.

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  5. I'm shocked they allowed you to walk around like that and even sit on the bed.

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    1. I was too. I asked and then asked again, just to be sure. The site even has a library and you're allowed to sit and read stories Ms. O'Connor wrote, etc. It's really a friendly place.

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