Joel Chandler Harris House
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates
Template:Short descriptionScript error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Joel Chandler Harris House, also known as The Wren's Nest or Snap Bean Farm, is a Queen Anne style house at 1050 Ralph D. Abernathy Blvd. (formerly Gordon Street.), SW.[1][2] in Atlanta, Georgia. Built in 1870, it was home to Joel Chandler Harris, editor of the Atlanta Constitution and author of the Uncle Remus Tales, from 1881 until his death in 1908.[1][3]
The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962 for its association with Harris, and is also designated as a historic building by the City of Atlanta. It is now a historic house museum.
Overview
The house was built circa 1868 in an area then known for its upper-class residents. Harris began renting the home in 1881 before buying it two years later thanks to earnings from his first book Uncle Remus: Songs and Sayings. He lived here until his death in 1908.[4] Harris had the home extended with six additional rooms and a new Queen Anne-style facade added in 1884. A furnace, indoor plumbing, and electricity were added circa 1900.[5]
In the late 1880s and early 1890s, Harris's goddaughter, Daisy Baker, who would become Margaret Dumont, lived at Snap Bean Farm.[6]
Harris originally referred to the home as Snap Bean Farm, as a reference to fellow author Eugene Field's home Sabine Farm. The name "Wren's Nest" came from his discovery of a family of wrens living in the mailbox in the spring of 1895.[4]
After several years of correspondence, Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley visited Harris at Wren's Nest in 1900. Harris's children were especially interested in Riley and nicknamed him Uncle Jeems.[5]
Ultimately, Harris wrote more than twenty books while living in the home as well as several editorials for the Atlanta Constitution and various articles for magazines and newspapers — including his own, The Uncle Remus Home Magazine.[7]
Modern history
After Harris's death, businessman Andrew Carnegie donated $5,000 toward establishing the home as a museum. He had met Harris there in 1900 during a 20-minute visit.[5] From 1913 to 1953, the home was managed by the Uncle Remus Memorial Association, a group of volunteers who operated the house as a museum. In 1983, the organization became known as the Joel Chandler Harris Association.[7]
The home still contains furnishings owned by Harris and utilizes the original paint colors. The house became known as Wren's Nest in 1900 after the Harris children found a wren had built a nest in the mail box; the family built a new mailbox in order to leave the nest undisturbed. The structure was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962.[8][1][9] The original mailbox that housed the family of wrens and led to the home's name was recreated during a renovation in 1991.[5]
The organization that maintains the Wren's Nest offers tours and regular storytelling. The organization also has two writing programs for Atlanta area youth: KIPP Scribes, in partnership with APS charter school KIPP STRIVE Academy, and Wren's Nest Publishing Company, an entirely high school student run literary journal.[10]
See also
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Georgia (U.S. state)
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Fulton County, Georgia
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ a b c Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
- ↑ Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Burke, Michelle Prater. The Ideals Guide to Literary Places in the U.S. Nashville, TN: Ideals Publications Incorporated, 1998: 80. Template:ISBN
- ↑ a b c d Burke, Michelle Prater. The Ideals Guide to Literary Places in the U.S. Nashville, TN: Ideals Publications Incorporated, 1998: 81. Template:ISBN
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Burke, Michelle Prater. The Ideals Guide to Literary Places in the U.S. Nashville, TN: Ideals Publications Incorporated, 1998: 82. Template:ISBN
- ↑ Blanche Higgins Schroer (May 15, 1975) Template:NHLS url, National Park Service and Template:NHLS url
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
External links
- Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. GA-2182, "Joel Chandler Harris House, 1050 Gordon Street, Atlanta, Fulton County, GA", 12 photos, 2 data pages, 1 photo caption page
- Atlanta, Georgia, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
- The Wren's Nest historical marker
- Original Gas Street Light historical marker at the Wren's Nest
Script error: No such module "Navbox". Script error: No such module "Navbox".
- Pages with script errors
- Pages with reference errors
- Pages with broken file links
- Biographical museums in Georgia (U.S. state)
- City of Atlanta-designated historic sites
- Historic American Buildings Survey in Georgia (U.S. state)
- Historic house museums in Georgia (U.S. state)
- Houses completed in 1870
- Houses in Atlanta
- Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state)
- Literary museums in the United States
- Museums in Atlanta
- National Historic Landmarks in Georgia (U.S. state)
- National Register of Historic Places in Atlanta