Ivy Green - Tuscumbia, AL - the history of two remarkable women is alive here

Ivy Green is the name of the home where Helen Keller spent her childhood. The simple white clapboard home was built during 1820 and the well pump that Helen Keller said her first words to Anne Sullivan at still stands on the property. The main house has four large rooms that are bisected by a wall on the first floor and the upstairs has three rooms with a hall connecting them. The house managed to make it through the Civil War untouched and has been a shrine to the life and accomplishments of Helen Keller since it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places during 1954.

Ivy Green is now open from 8:30am until 4pm Monday through Saturday and the last tour is given at 3:45pm each day. The facility is closed for Easter, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and New Years Day. The facility closes from December 24th to the 26th for the Christmas Holidays. Rates for admission to Ivy Green are $6 for adults, $2 for those aged five to eighteen and $5 for retired or active members of the military, AAA members and seniors. When reservations are made for groups of twenty or more the rate is $5 for adults and $1.50 for children.

The house is on six hundred and forty acres in the historical Tuscumbia, Alabama. Helen Keller's grandparents David and Mary Fairfax Moore Keller built the home during 1820. Visitors can reach the outdoor kitchen by taking the whistle path that leads from the main house. The estate also has herb gardens, Carriage House and Gift Shop, Lion's Club's International Memorial Foundation and the Clearing for guests to enjoy.

The main house's east side is where the cottage that Helen Keller was born in is located. The home has a playroom and large room with a bay window; its original purpose was to serve as an office to keep the books for the plantation. When Kate Adams, the second wife of Captain Arthur H. Keller moved into the home it was turned into a bridal suite for them. It would later serve as a home Anne Sullivan and Helen.

The museum and home at Ivy Green still have a great deal of the Keller family's original furniture. There are hundreds of books, gifts and personal mementos from the life colorful life that Miss Keller lead when she was traveling around the world in her efforts to improve the lives of people that where either deaf, blind or both.

The estate is completely nestled under a variety of trees that form a canopy over it and the large amounts of English Ivy that the estate is named for. There is also smilax, roses and honeysuckles on the grounds to enhance the beauty. Ivy Green relies heavily on donations to maintain and run the facility. Donations given to the facility are tax deductible. "The Miracle Worker'' written by the playwright William Gibson which details the life of Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan is produced each weekend from the first of June to the middle of July by the Helen Keller Foundation Incorporated.

The play is performed at 8pm on Friday and Saturday with the gates opening at 6:45 so that those with tickets can take a tour of the grounds and house at no costs. The rates to reserve seats are $10, $9 for those with twenty or more in the group. The rate of general admission is $8.