Living Our Dream: Tuscumbia, AL Part I: Helen Keller Birthplace

October 26, 2011

Tuscumbia, AL Part I: Helen Keller Birthplace

Tuscumbia, AL - Events of Monday, Oct. 25, 2011

Tuscumbia, AL is the birthplace of Helen Keller. She was born at the family home Ivy Green, which was built in 1820 by her grandparents. The photo below shows the main house at Ivy Green.

The main house has 4 large rooms on the first floor including the dining room, the master bedroom and the parlor shown below. Most of the furnishings in the home are original to the Keller family. A small museum occupies the fourth room downstairs.

The second floor had two bedrooms and a storage room. The next photo shows Helen's room on the second floor.

When Helen's parents were first married, the plantation office next to the main house was converted to a cottage for the newlyweds. It was here Helen was born. Later, after Helen and her parents had moved into the main house, the cottage served as a classroom.

Helen Keller was not blind and deaf at birth. It was not until 19 months of age that she was stricken by a severe illness (possibly scarlet fever or meningitis) that left her totally blind and deaf. By the age of 6, Helen had become a very unruly child because of her frustration of not being able to communicate.

The Kellers contacted an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist in Baltimore for advice. The specialist encouraged them to contact Alexander Graham Bell, who was working with deaf children at the time. Bell subsequently put the Kellers in touch with the Perkins Institute for the Blind. In 1887, the director of the institute asked a young woman by the name of Annie Sullivan, who was almost blind herself and who was a former student at the institute, to go to Ivy Green to try to communicate with Helen.

Early attempts by Annie to teach Helen sign language by spelling words into Helen's hand were unsuccessful because Helen had become blind and deaf at such an early age, she didn't realize every object had a unique name. Then one day behind the house at the well, Annie made a breakthrough when she repeatedly spelled the word "water" into Helen's hand while pumping cool water over the girl's other hand. The pump still stands behind the house.

Helen Keller learned Braille by age 10, and she also learned the manual alphabet and how to use the typewriter. She even learned to speak by putting her fingers into Annie's mouth to feel the movement of Annie's tongue and by putting her hand on Annie's throat to feel the sound vibrations. Helen Keller went on to graduate cum laude from Radcliffe college in 1904. The photo below shows Helen Keller on the left in her cap and gown and Annie Sullivan on the right.

Annie Sullivan married in 1905. Although she and her husband separated in 1914, they never formally divorced. Annie continued to live with Helen in New York as a companion until Annie's death in 1936. Helen Keller had another companion and also a nurse in later life. Helen Keller died in 1968.

Helen Keller devoted most of her life to improving conditions for the blind and the deaf. She gave a speech at the Lion's Club Convention in 1925 and persuaded the Lions to become the crusaders they are today for vision preservation and service to the blind. Helen Keller was also a political activist and a member of the Socialist Party. She helped found the ACLU.

As we continued our tour, we visited the kitched that is located in a separate building behind the main house.

Also located behind the house is the herb garden in the foreground in the next photo with the butterfly garden behind.

Next to the house is the Lion's International Memorial Garden.

And to the rear of the property is The Clearing where there is a collection of native trees and shrubs. The collection includes the Moon Tree, which is a loblolly pine that was grown from a seed that was flown to the moon and back on Apollo 14 in 1971. The seedling was presented to Ivy Green in 1976 by the U. S. Forest Service.