We had an unexpected and super cool surprise when in Red Bay, Alabama for some warranty work recently. Ivy Green, the birthplace of Helen Keller!! It was so exciting it deserves two exclamation points.
There can be some downtime waiting for your coach to get in a service bay and sometimes that time spans a weekend. What to do, what to do. Off to the internet we went, finding lots of items that peaked our interest. I told Mark “Yeah, we are so doing this” when I saw that Ivy Green was just under an hour’s drive away. Perfect. Mark is a good sport about many of the places I like to check out when we travel. And, the little town of Tuscumbia also popped up as a place to see.
As we were driving there, I remembered being curled up in the chair reading the book, The Miracle Worker and being so excited to see the movie. Now kids, excited to see a movie as a kid in the mid 70’s was a lot different than now. We had to WAIT until it was on TV, at least in my house because we didn’t have a VCR. It was an old movie and I didn’t care, what I read was playing out on TV. I’m pretty sure this was true for many children of my era.
Directions to Ivy Green are well marked in town and it was easy to find. It’s a somewhat grand entrance but much smaller than my 9-year old self pictured it while reading the book. The giant magnolia trees in the front are beautiful, I bet it’s spectacular when they are blooming.
There are several buildings on the property, most are original. There is a main house, a cottage, an ice house, the kitchen building and an interesting old cabin in the back part of the clearing.
Our tour guide took us through the house, noting what furniture was original. She gave us background information regarding the house and the family, Helen’s illness and how they found Miss Anne Sullivan along with her own sight issues. I’d forgotten that Helen’s dad had been married before. The master bedroom was the first room where she pointed out original pieces like a quilt made by Helen’s aunt and family photographs. Across the main hall from the bedroom is the parlor where more family photographs were on display.
I was excited to see the dining room where the famous food fight took place. Our guide explained that the family more or less let Helen wander and do as she pleased during mealtime. She would take food from a plate, eat what she wanted and move on to someone else’s plate. Miss Sullivan was not happy, not at all and gently slapped her hand away when Helen tried to take food from her plate. That’s what set off the food fight and ended with Miss Sullivan locking the family out of the dining room while she taught Helen the proper way to eat with the family. Some of the furniture and a few pieces of the original china are still there. Then it was up the stairs to see the boys room, Helen and Annie’s room and the trunk room along with more family items including Helen’s desk.
While reading the books, I pictured the water fountain to be far from the house. Oh no, it’s not far at all at only strides away from the back door. We walked out that back door and I started gazing out when it was just off to my right. It sits under a gazebo now with a nice brick pattern laid out. I held myself back from running straight over to it. I wonder if that’s why the gazebo is there as an attractive fence of sorts to keep grown women who cherished the book from blazing on over.
Outside the main house sits the cottage that Mr. Keller set up as a bridal suite for his new bride, Helen’s mother. This is where Helen was born and it’s set up much the way it was when Helen was a baby. Some of Helen’s baby clothes are on display as well.
We wandered the grounds, taking in the sunny day. The kitchen house is remarkable. You forget just how hard life was, even for an affluent family over 100 years ago. This building was most likely the busiest place on the grounds. The pots, pans and utensils each tell a story of life in the 1800’s. The ice house is interesting. Helen’s father stored giant block of ice in this outside basement kind of building that were harvested from fields during the winter. These giant blocks would be hauled up and used in the house during the summer months. Having ice readily available, it seems foreign to have to harvest it.
There was much more to see. As we meandered through the grounds we walked through the Lions Club Memorial Garden which helps blind people all over the world. The beautiful flowers are courtesy of the Shoals Master Gardener group and use Helen’s favorite plants. There is also “The Moon Tree” which grew from seeds that were carried to the moon.
Our visit was in the spring so we didn’t get to see the live play about Helen. We learned that every summer “The Miracle Worker” is performed on the grounds of Ivy Green. The play carries the audience through her early years and then the miraculous breakthrough of the young Helen Keller at the guidance of her teacher Anne Sullivan with authentic costumes and sets, and professional acting.
I was a happy 9-year old (plus some years) as we left the grounds. It’s funny how some wonderful things from your childhood come roaring back.
We turned the Jeep toward downtown Tuscumbia to check out this little old southern town. We walked around Tuscumbia Railways but couldn’t go in because it was closed. From there we walked over to the courthouse then down into the downtown. Many of the shops were still closed due to the pandemic, it’s been sad to see the impact on small businesses. We decided to checkout lunch at Superhero Chefs. It was a hopping place, it took a few minutes to get a table. Boy the wait was worth it. We each picked a burger that we would split. I picked the War Eagle burger while Mark went with the Roll Tide burger. As we waited for our table we overheard people saying how good the mac & cheese was so of course we added that. Wowzer with a capital W. Every part of our lunch was delicious. Hats off to the creator Darnell Ferguson. It’s a shame that it’s 2,000 miles from home or I might be there everyday.
I hope you get a chance to tour Ivy Green and have all the same good feels I did. It’s time to read the book again, my 9-year old self is begging to.