In early November we took a trip to Tuscumbia, Alabama to visit IVY GREEN the birthplace of Helen Keller. Come to find out that at about the same time our Granddaughter was reading a book about Helen Keller. The day she finished the book at school she came home to find a postcard from us from that we sent from our trip there. She was excited so this blog posting is for her.
The main house was built on 640 acres of land in 1820 by Helen's grandparents, David and Mary Fairfax Moore Keller. Helen was not born in this house but in the cottage next to it.
She was raised in the main house and was totally uncontrollable because her parents had no way to communicate with her, being deaf and blind.
This is the parlor of the home with most of the original furniture still in the home. Most of the rooms in the home had a fireplace as this was the only heating in the house.
They shared their meals in the dining room next to the parlor. The chest to the right of the fireplace held silver, linens and beverages. Sugar chest to the left. Usually only two shipments of sugar arrived in a year, so sugar was kept under lock and key.
Upstairs was Helen's bedroom that she shared with her teacher Anne Sullivan. The larger of the two beds in the room was Helen's and the...
smaller bed across the room was Anne's.
Because it was just too hot in the house during the summer the kitchen was in a small building just behind the house. The left side is the kitchen and the right door was where the cook lived.
This picture is looking through the door into the kitchen area.
All the water for the house came from a well between the home and the kitchen. There was not any running water in the house. This is the hand pump that Anne Sullivan was using to try and make Helen understand that everything had a name and could be spelled out using sign language and it finally worked. Anne said that night "she has learned that everything has a name, and that the manual alphabet is the key to everything she wants to know."
Next to the main house is the cottage where Helen was born.
Since Helen's parents catered to her every whim, Teacher soon realized she would have to get Helen away from her parents in order to be able to control her tantrums and teach her, so the cottage served as the school house.
Looking at the back yard of the main home with the cottage to the left.
For a little fun.
Across the street and also found around town mounted on telephone poles was what we call portable libraries. Each one had about 20 books in it with the sign reading "take one give one". Great idea to share books with your neighbors..
