Flannery O'Connor Childhood Home
If you love visiting period and literary figures’ homes, then the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home is a must-see tour during your stay in picturesque Savannah, Georgia.
Carefully restored to its original layout, visitors will enjoy learning about the life of a southern family during the depression while finding out little-known facts about a great American author.
Here are some of the reasons why the Flannery O’Connor Home is a significant tourist attraction in Savannah.
Who was Flannery O’Connor, you ask?
Mary Flannery O’Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia on March 25, 1925. A celebrated novelist and short story writer, she won the O. Henry award three times and the National Book Award posthumously in 1972. Her novel Wise Blood was made into a movie in 1979. She died in 1964 at 39 years old from lupus.
When O’Connor was young, she gained notoriety in Savannah for training a chicken to walk backwards. She retained her love of birds her whole life, caring for peacocks at her mother’s house in Milledgeville, GA, where she lived her last years.
In her writing, she described her young self as a "pigeon-toed child with a receding chin and a you-leave-me-alone-or-I'll-bite-you complex".
Writing Style
Flannery O’Connor’s writing often includes grotesque characters in violent situations facing a graphic fate. Her genre was southern gothic, a subcategory of gothic literature which often portrays deeply flawed, disturbed, or eccentric characters.
She was deeply informed by her Catholic faith and progressive political stance, voting for John F. Kennedy and supporting Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement while attending mass every day. Many of her stories deal with race, disability, fundamentalism, and poverty. She was praised by critics for her nuanced view of human behavior.
Cathedral of St John the Baptist
As a child, she went to mass at the Cathedral of St John the Baptist. This beautiful church is a must-see while in Savannah. It was built in 1876 in neo-gothic style and is located in Lafayette square steps away from the O'Conner Childhood Home. The Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah, Pope Francis crowned it a minor basilica in 2020.
Childhood Home
In 1989 O’Connor’s childhood home was purchased for $132,500 by professors at nearby Armstrong State University. The house had been converted to apartments, but after the purchase, it was restored. From the paint color to gold leaf accents, the house was replicated to exactly how Flannery would have seen it. The fact that it was purchased only a couple decades after her passing and when her mother was still living made authentic restoration possible.
Built in 1856, the Greek Revival-style house is located across from St John the Baptist Cathedral. The Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home is one of the few museum houses in the country preserved from that era.
Flannery O’Connor referred to her childhood home located in Lafayette Square in Savannah, Georgia as, “the house I was raised in.” Her favorite place to read at home was in a small bathroom on the second floor. She lived in the house until she was 13 in 1938.
Objects used by O’Connor, including her baby stroller and only surviving toy, are on display with letters she wrote, as well as some original items from her family give a snapshot of what life one hundred years ago looked like.
Visitors can roam the museum and sit on the period furniture, giving a homey feel to the experience. The Bruckheimer Library, dedicated in 2007, contains rare books.
The garden is also open. Designed by Savannah Landscape Architect Clermont Huger Lee, it was made to be historically accurate.
Literary lovers, history lovers, and anyone interested in period houses would enjoy a visit to Flannery O’Connor’s Childhood Home.
Tours
Book a guided tour to learn little-known facts about the childhood and family life of O’Connor. Unlike many lavish historic house museums in the south, the tour focuses on the day-to-day life of a middle-class American family during the depression. Visitors love the enthusiasm and knowledge of guides on the 30-minute tour.
Bookshop
The gift shop contains unique books and fun gifts for an original souvenir of your trip. Enjoy peacock shot glasses, colorful magnets, and locally roasted coffee beans.
Accessibility
The home is unfortunately not wheelchair accessible and is best booked in advance online. If you visit by car, parking is on metered on-street parking spots.
Events
The Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home hosts several free events during the year. In 2010 they hosted the announcement of the 20 Finalists for National Book awards, receiving international attention to this historical site. Throughout the year you can enjoy free Sunday lectures, as well as the Annual Ursrey Memorial Lecture.
Flannery O’Connor Parade
Flannery O’Connor is arguably the best American short story writer, and the locals are very proud of their native Savannahian. Every March, fans gather in Lafayette Square in costumes of her characters and parade in honor of O’Connor’s life and work. The parade is as much a celebration of O’Connor as it is an expression of the quirky culture of Savannah. It includes a marching band, a peacock birthday cake for O’Connor, and a game of chickenshit bingo, a game that only a Savannahian can describe.
Book Trail
The Flannery O’Connor Book Trail is a winding trail of Little Free Libraries that leads to O’Connor’s last home in Milledgeville, GA. Be aware it is an almost three-hour drive away, so it might be only for the die-hard O’Connor fans.
Other Things to Do
Once you visit the home look inside other historic homes in Lafayette square. The Andrew Low House still has its original garden. The Hamilton-Turner Inn is known for ghost sightings and was made famous by the novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
Lafayette Park is an aesthetic space to picnic, exercise, or enjoy an outdoor concert or film.
If you’re hungry, try Clary’s Café, which opened almost 100 years ago, for an array of southern-style dishes in an unassuming diner. If you’re craving something else, wine bars, coffee shops, Italian restaurants, and craft breweries are just footsteps away.
