In honor of what would be Eudora Welty’s 115th birthday, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History is inviting you to the famous author and photographer’s home and garden on Friday, April 12, and Saturday, April 13.
A weekend chock-full of celebratory events, the party will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday with free birthday cupcakes and lemonade on the side porch of Welty’s 1925 Tudor Revival house in the historic Belhaven neighborhood in Jackson. Visitors will have the opportunity to create complimentary, wearable button-pins using historic photographs of Welty. From 2 to 3 p.m., local DJ Tyler Tadlock will play records with music from Welty’s era on the side porch. Free tours of the home and garden will be offered at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m.
On Saturday, the celebration picks back up at 10 a.m. with a garden volunteering opportunity, allowing visitors to honor Welty by keeping her garden as beautiful as it was when she lived at the home for 76 years. Free tours will be offered at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Before she passed away on July 23, 2001, Welty solidified herself as one of the best authors to ever come out of the American South. She won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Price for The Optimist’s Daughter. Other major works of Welty’s include Delta Wedding, The Ponder Heart, and One Writer’s Beginnings.
Her home, which has been considered a National Historic Landmark since 2004, is located at 1109 Pinehurst Street. Reservations for tours and registration for the gardening opportunity can be made by emailing info@eudoraweltyhouse.com.
