Helen Keller

The day that it rained and rained, and after we got " unstuck in the muck", we headed to Mussel Shoals to see what we could fine there. Close by in Tuscumbia, we found "Ivy Green", the birthplace and house were Helen Keller grew up. The Keller home was built on a 640-acre tract of land in 1820(one year after Alabama became the 22nd State of the Union) by Helen's grandparents. During the War Between the States, the Keller home was used as a hospital. The birthplace cottage is situated west of the main house. Originally the small structure was an office, but when Capt Keller brought his second bride-Helen's mother-( who was 20 years younger than him) to Ivy Green, he furnished it as a bridal suite. Here, Helen was born, a normal child, on June 27, 1880. At the age of 19 mons. an illness left Helen blind and deaf. Since Helen's parents catered to her every whim, Teacher soon realized she would have to get Helen away from her parents in order to be able to control her tantrums and teach her, so this cottage served as the school house. Annie Sullivan's( her teacher) and Helen's bedroom was upstairs in the main house. Annie slept on the full bed and Helen, in the twin. The " pump" was where Helen learned her first word, "water" and it's located behind the main house. In six short months, Helen knew 625 words. By the age of 10, she had mastered Braille as well as the manual alphabet and even learned to use the manual typewriter. Helen had an IQ of 160, knew 5 languages and graduated "cum laude" from Radcliffe College in 1904 with Annie by her side at all times. Anne Sullivan Macy was Teacher and companion to Helen from March 3, 1887 until her death October 20, 1936. After that Polly Thomson who had been their secretary since 1914, became her companion. "The Miracle Worker", the play is performed on the grounds of "Ivy Green" each year on weekends from late June through late July. Chuck and I sure did learn a lot about Helen Keller and enjoyed the nice, Alabama story teller, who taught us about her. It was definitely worth the time to drive to Tuscumbia. It made me want to go to the library and check out " The Miracle Worker" and read all I can about Helen Keller. I just love "history" and it's so much fun to actually see where it happened.