Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home

Pictures of O’Connor’s parents, Regina & Edward.

Doug loves visiting authors’ homes, and so it was we found ourselves on the steps of the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home in Savannah, Georgia.

Mary Flannery O’Connor lived at this 1856 home from her birth in 1925 until just before her 13^th birthday in 1938 when O’Connor’s father Edward was diagnosed with lupus.

The family relocated to Milledgeville, Georgia, to live with Flannery’s mother’s family. Unfortunately, Edward O’Connor passed away when Flannery was just 15-years-old.

A gold-framed portrait of Cousin Katie, a wealthy relation who discovered she had family in the O’Connors, and proceeded to financially support them, including gifts such as this.

Doug on the steps in front of the narrow home. There was once a twin to this building to the left, but Cousin Katie tore it down to make room for a garage for her electric car!

O’Connor attended the University of Iowa on a Journalism scholarship, hoping to become a professional cartoonist. After just a semester, however, she moved over to a writing program, and this is where she published her first short story.

When she was 26, O’Connor also was diagnosed with lupus, and at this time she, too, returned to Milledgeville to be with family, especially her mother Regina. Her initial diagnosis predicted she would last just five more years, but she managed to live on to age 39, dying in 1964.

The spirited child with big grin and legs spread wide is Flannery.

O’Connor made the most of her time, writing 31 short stories and two novels, as well as many reviews and commentaries.

She won the O. Henry Award three times, and also the 1972 National Book Award for Fiction for the posthumously published Complete Stories. She also traveled and lectured, in spite of her failing health.

We were lucky enough to be given our tour by the museum’s director, Janie Bragg, whose enthusiasm and love of subject won us over.

Due in part to the wonderful light, this was Flannery’s most favorite room in the home. She would host her friends her, reading Edgar Allen Poe stories to them from the bathtub.

Flannery’s actual baby buggy! Over it hangs a picture of Flannery and her mother Regina.

The home itself is rather sparsely furnished, with relatively few items relating to O’Connor. Given that the family moved away so long ago, this is hardly surprising.

The home passed through many hands after the O’Connors left Savannah, and was subsequently divided into apartments. When it came up for sale in 1989, a group of academics rallied the forces and formed the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home Foundation, which purchased the building and embarked on a major restoration project.