Ivy Green is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

at 300 West North Commons in

Tuscumbia, Alabama Tuscumbia is a city in and the county seat of Colbert County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 8,423. The city is part of The Shoals metropolitan area. Tuscumbia was the hometown of Helen Keller, who lived at Iv ...

, United States. Built in 1820, it was the birthplace and childhood home of Helen Keller (1880–1968), who became well known after overcoming

deaf-blind Deafblindness is the condition of little or no useful hearing and little or no useful sight. Different degrees of vision loss and auditory loss occur within each individual. Because of this inherent diversity, each deafblind individual's needs re ...

conditions to communicate; she became an author and public speaker. Designated as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

, it is now operated as a museum honoring and interpreting Keller's life.

Description and history

Ivy Green is located in a residential area north of downtown Tuscumbia, on the north side of West North Commons at Keller Lane. The property's principal features are the main house, the birthplace cottage, and the well. The main house is a -story frame structure with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior. It has a five-bay facade, with sash windows around a roughly centered entrance. The entrance is sheltered by a gabled portico, and is framed by sidelight and transom windows. Nearby stands the birthplace cottage, a modest structure originally built as a plantation office. It was refurbished as a bridal suite for Arthur Henley Keller's second wife, who bore him Helen Keller in 1880. In between the two buildings stand the well and pump that played a key role in Helen Keller's development. The main house at Ivy Green was built in 1820 by David Keller, Helen Keller's grandfather. The well pump is where Helen Keller first achieved a communicated breakthrough with her teacher and companion,

Anne Sullivan Anne Sullivan Macy (born as Johanna Mansfield Sullivan; April 14, 1866 – October 20, 1936) was an American teacher best known for being the instructor and lifelong companion of Helen Keller.Herrmann, Dorothy. ''Helen Keller: A Life'', Alfred ...

. and In 1954 the property was adapted as a museum dedicated to Helen Keller. A fire in 1972 caused minor damage and resulted in the donation of additional materials by the Keller family.

''The Miracle Worker''

Every summer, for over 30 years, the Helen Keller Foundation has presented outdoor performances here of

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ...

's ''

The Miracle Worker ''The Miracle Worker'' refers to a broadcast, a play and various other adaptations of Helen Keller's 1903 autobiography '' The Story of My Life''. The first of these works was a 1957 ''Playhouse 90'' broadcast written by William Gibson and st ...

'', a play about Keller and Sullivan. The play is usually performed from early June through mid-July. It is especially popular during the

Helen Keller Festival Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, G ...

held in Tuscumbia every June.

References

External links

* * {{Helen Keller Helen Keller National Register of Historic Places in Colbert County, Alabama Houses in Colbert County, Alabama Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama National Historic Landmarks in Alabama Houses completed in 1880 Historic house museums in Alabama Biographical museums in Alabama Museums in Colbert County, Alabama Women's museums in the United States Historic American Buildings Survey in Alabama Deaf writers

Description and history

''The Miracle Worker''

See also

References

External links