Awake: 6:08am Temp 51 sleep 5+56 mostly sunny overnight @ Tuscumbia, AL.
Late morning we motored about (3) miles into Tuscumbia & toured the birthplace of Helen Keller. Neither of us knew that much about her, only what we saw in the movie: "The Miracle Worker."
She was born a normal child but @ (19) months, developed an illness that left Helen blind & deaf. Since Helen's parents catered to her every whim, her teacher soon realized she would have to get Helen away from her parents in order to be able to control her tantrums & teach her. So the cottage annex that Captain Keller had built first as an office & than as a bridal suite for his 2nd wife, served as living quarters & school for Helen & her teacher, Anne Sullivan. Anne remained as Helen's companion for (49) yrs until Anne's death.
After a guided tour of the house & seeing a fraction of the hundreds of mementos including a tiny portion of her library of Braille books & a couple of Braille typewriters, a Brailled Scrabble set & many pictures; we were stunned @ all the good things she had accomplished in her lifetime including graduating from Radcliffe College cum laude.
Next we drove about (7) miles out of town to see & have a guided tour of the Belle Mont Plantation Mansion; this old house, built during the mid-1830's, was the oldest structure we have ever encountered. Jim, our professional tour guide, had a lot to tell us as we went from room to room; it seems that the most distinguished thing about this house is the so-called "Jeffersonian Style" building with accents of high-quality brickwork with contrasting wood trim. Even though there are some notable touches about this old place, we didn't get any ideas to add to our long list when building our own home.
Dinner: Tilapia fish, asparagus, rice pilaf & a spinach salad.
Evening movie: "Interrupted Melody" with Eleanor Parker, Glenn Ford, Roger Moore, Cecil Kellaway, Ann Codee, etc. Fine biography of Marjorie Lawrence, Australian opera star, who made a comeback after being crippled by polio. Eileen Farrell sings for Parker. 1955. Sensitive story with a good finish; based on a true story.
Lights out: 11:53pm
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