The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

The Eudora Welty House

For a remarkable 76 years, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Eudora Welty lived here.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Built in 1925, Welty’s Tudor Revival house has been a National Historic Landmark since 2004

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short story writer, novelist, and photographer, who is most famous for writing about the American South. 

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Eudora was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. Around the time of her high school graduation, Welty moved with her family to a house built for them at 1119 Pinehurst Street.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Architect Wyatt C. Hedrick designed and built the house in 1925 specifically for the Welty family.

This home remained Eudora’s permanent residence for the rest of her life. Here, she lived, entertained, gardened, and wrote her stories.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

What’s most fascinating about this home is that The Mississippi Department of Archives and History has preserved and interpreted the home to the year 1986, when Welty was still actively writing and traveling.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Essentially, the home is a 1986 time capsule of a mature southern writer who had lived here the majority of her life.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

The Eudora Welty House opened as a writer’s house museum to the public in 2006.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Her writing room has been frozen in time with many of her personal effects, documents, and furnishings.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

There’s something so intriguing about a writer’s life… living each day in quiet solitude inside one’s head, not interacting with the outside world, but trying to make sense of it, or transcend it.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Eudora believed strongly that life lived among books is a peaceful, imaginative, and fulfilling life.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

The Living Room:

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

The living room is strategically cluttered with many of Eudora’s beloved books.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Welty was an avid book collector, as well as an author.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Below is a 1956 photo of the Welty family:

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Eudora’s father died of leukemia in 1931. Her mother died decades later in 1966, leaving the house to Eudora.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Eudora is quoted as saying “any room in our house, at any time in the day, was there to read in, or to be read to.”

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Books grace almost every surface of the home.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

There is something so intrinsically beautiful about the clutter books.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Below is the breakfast nook where Eudora had her coffee each morning before writing.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

The Kitchen:

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Once again, we see a room frozen in or before 1986, when we can picture Eudora living and cooking there for decades with little change.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

There is a frequently photographed small table below a window in one corner of the kitchen:

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

So quiet and lovely!

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Eudora’s bedroom:

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

The room emanates a peacefulness, and, how gorgeous is that bedspread?

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

On the vanity, we see Eudora’s actual toiletries and knick-knacks:

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Guests can take tours through the Welty home and are also welcome to roam the gardens outside.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

The Gardens:

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

The garden landscape was originally designed by Chestina Welty, Eudora Welty’s mother, in 1925.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Welty and her mother built and tended the gardens over a period of decades.

The garden was often referred to by Eudora and her mother as “a labor of love”. It is located in the property in back of Eudora Welty’s home and is a popular tourist attraction.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

Many of the flower species in this garden appeared in Eudora Welty’s stories and novels.

The Eudora Welty House In Jackson, Mississippi

“It had been startling and disappointing to me to find out that story books had been written by people, that books were not natural wonders, coming up of themselves like grass.”
― Eudora Welty

Eudroa Welty

Eudora Welty in her old home with her books and her garden… what a sublime life!

 

Sources:

https://www.facebook.com/eudoraweltyhouse/

https://welty.mdah.ms.gov/about-house

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty_House

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