An American Patriot

With Memorial Day just around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate to say a few words today about Flannery O'Connor's father, Edward. Besides being the loving and devoted father of the author, O'Connor was an American patriot who served our country with distinction in France during the First World War. He was born in Savannah and educated at Benedictine College, a military prep school in the city. Following graduation from St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, he enlisted in the armed forces of the United States. Between May of 1916 and August, 1917, O'Connor served in the Georgia National Guard, patrolling the New Mexico border under the command of General John J. Pershing. Between April 1918 and May 1919, O'Connor was stationed overseas as a member of the 82nd Division of the American Expeditionary Force, the famed "All Americans" out of Camp Gordon, Georgia. For his valor in combat, Lieutenant Edward O'Connor was awarded a World War I Victory Medal and Victory Button. Following his stint in the service, O'Connor became highly involved in the American Legion, serving as commander of Chatham Post 36 and chairman of the Veterans Council of Administration. As Commander of the American Legion for the entire state of Georgia, Edward O'Connor traveled a great deal and made speeches, which made his daughter's heart swell with pride. The feeling was mutual. When O'Connor would go on speaking engagements, he carried in his billfold some of Flannery's early artistic creations, usually drawings of chickens, which he showed off to his colleagues in the American Legion. For more detailed biographical information on Edward O'Connor, check out Brad Gooch's biography, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor as well as Sarah Gordon's A Literary Guide to Flannery O'Connor's Georgia. Finally, please note that Andalusia will be closed on Monday, May 30th, for Memorial Day. Have a safe and restful holiday.
- Mark

PODS in Place

Since work will soon begin on the restoration of the Hill house, it is necessary for us to remove all the furnishings and store them on site temporarily during the construction phase of the project. Next Wednesday, a team from Allen Construction Co. will move the contents of the house into these PODS storage units that were delivered to the farm a few days ago. Architects from the firm of Lord, Aeck, and Sargent were also here this week to survey the house in preparation for the restoration work that will take place. If you are visiting the farm this summer, please be assured that visitor services will not be disrupted during construction.
- Mark

Unwelcome Visitors

The guy you see on the right is a black rat snake. These creatures are non-poisonous and fairly docile, unless disturbed. In fact, they are beneficial to have at the farm to the extent that they help keep the rodent population down. On Monday, I found one of these snakes languidly stretched out in the back of the peacocks' coop. Our birds were pretty wound up by his presence and so, with the help of a rake, I managed to get him out of the aviary. The next day one of our visitors (of the non-reptilian variety) told me there was another huge snake in the aviary. By the time I was able to go out to check on the situation he had vanished. Why are we now seeing these snakes? Most likely it's because one of our hens is laying eggs and, for a snake, a peacock egg is like filet mignon. If anyone out there knows how we might ward off these unwelcome visitors, we'd love to hear from you. This is a good time to remind our guests about the presence of snakes at Andalusia. In the unlikely event you should happen to come across one, quietly walk away and leave it alone since the snake is going to be more frightened of you than you are of him. Also, when you're here we encourage you to stay on the mown areas of the property. You will be less likely to have a close encounter with one of our slithery friends.

- Mark

Dr. Doolittle?

Besides writing this blog, one of my duties here at Andalusia is taking care of our peafowl. Every day I clean out the aviary and make sure the birds have plenty of food and fresh water. I usually finish up by giving them one of their favorite treats - cracked corn or spinach. For the last week or two the birds have not been all that interested since they have been getting their fill of the mulberries that have been dropping from the tree above the aviary. Today, as you can see, they were more receptive. Now, I'm no Dr. Doolittle, but over the course of the last year, the birds have gotten used to me and are comfortable enough having me around that they will actually take food from my hand. It used to be that only Manley Pointer (the male) was bold enough to do this. Lately, however, one of the females (Joy Hulga or Mary Grace - we can't tell them apart) has gotten up enough nerve to get in on the act, too. We're wondering if her sudden interest isn't due to the fact that she may be pregnant and needs the extra nutrients the spinach provides. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't find her sitting on a clutch of eggs some day soon. Stay tuned for further developments.

- Mark

Mug Shot

And you thought I was going to post a mug shot of the Misfit! No, what you see pictured here is a different kind of mug, which also happens to be one of the newest and best-selling items in our gift shop. Without a doubt, we sold more of them during the O'Connor conference two weeks ago than any other souvenir. The mugs are hand-crafted for us by the Deneen Pottery Co. in St. Paul, Minnesota. They are available in two different designs and come in violet and peacock green. Because the process of making these mugs is so time consuming and labor intensive (24 pairs of hands touch each mug during production), they are slightly more expensive than our other coffee mugs, but well worth the $15.95 price. They are lead and cadmium free, as well as being microwave, dishwasher, oven, and freezer safe. What's more, the manufacturer assures us that the mugs are very, very durable. If you are interested in buying one (or more) of these unique Andalusia mementos, stop by our gift shop or give us a call at 478-454-4029.

- Mark

Fun Field Trips

Where is that bus going with all those happy children? To Andalusia, of course. It's that time of year again when we get lots of school groups. This week we have welcomed busloads of children from some of our local elementary schools. Today the grounds are abuzz with the joyful sounds of children from Creekside Elementary exploring the farm and learning something about the famous author that used to live here. As you can tell by our website we take our commitment to education seriously. There is so much for children to learn at Andalusia. While admittedly a five-year-old's appreciation of O'Connor's literature is limited, there is so much else here to capture a child's imagination, especially the animals one frequently encounters at this farm. The children are particularly fascinated with the peafowl and the birds, for their part, seem to be be equally intrigued by the children. They 're not sure what to make of 176 kindergartners running around the back yard...and neither are we! At any rate, we hope you have a happy Easter.

- Mark

Startling Figures

This past Wednesday, on a picture post card evening, we hosted a reception for all participants in the Flannery O'Connor Conference that is currently going on at Georgia College. Many of our guests sat in on presentations by Joy Farmer and Catherine Emanuel. Others watched a screening of the movie, The Displaced Person, that was preceded by a talk by Katy Leedy of Marquette University. Still others, as you can see in this photo, enjoyed the conviviality of the front porch. A good time was had by all 79 attending the event. The O'Connor conference wraps up tomorrow night at Georgia College with the Dave Perkins concert. Tickets are available for advance purchase at Andalusia and will also be available the night of the show. Finally, time is running out for bidding on the signed, first edition that we are auctioning off at Andalusia. The deadline for getting your bid in is tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.

- Mark

A Good Book Is Hard to Find

...especially if it's a signed, first edition of Flannery O'Connor's short story collection, A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Believe me, folks, I went to the web this week looking for one and there just aren't any out there. I checked the major used book sellers, e.g. Abebooks, Alibris, etc., and you simply can't find this volume anywhere. Fortunately, through the generous donation of one of our Friends, we are auctioning off a signed, yes signed, first edition of A Good Man Is Hard to Find at Andalusia next week. This silent auction will coincide with the Flannery O'Connor conference at Georgia College (April 13-16). Bidding on this rare book starts at $1,000 and must be done in person at Andalusia between 4:00 Wednesday afternoon and 3:00 Saturday afternoon. Autographed copies of O'Connor's works are rare. She just didn't sign that many books. So this is a unique opportunity for you to acquire a real collector's item. If you have any questions or would like more information on the auction, please call us at 478-454-4029. Whether you bid on the book or not, please feel free to visit us next week.

- Mark

Life's a Picnic

...at Andalusia. And what could be more perfect than packing a picnic basket and coming out to the farm on a beautiful spring day like this? We have picnic tables set up east of the main house and just off the nature trail. Or you might want to do as these visitors last week and spread a cloth on the front lawn to enjoy lunch al fresco amidst the unparalleled beauty of Andalusia. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be sunny and clear with temperatures climbing back to the upper 70s by Saturday. An ideal time, I'd say, to pack up some sandwiches and come out to the farm.

- Mark

Grand Re-opening

In honor of Flannery O'Connor's 86th birthday tomorrow, we will be re-opening the upstairs of the main house. The upstairs area, consisting of two bedrooms with a bathroom between, was used for putting up overnight guests. Among the noteworthy visitors that stayed there was Flannery's publisher, Robert Giroux. From the windows in this bedroom, visitors will be treated to some magnificent views of the farm. Though the upstairs plumbing is no longer functioning, the bathroom will also be open to the public. The room on the east side of the house, which the O'Connors used for storage, remains closed. Special thanks to our dedicated volunteer, Judy, who spent two days cleaning and scrubbing the upstairs in order to get it ready for our grand re-opening tomorrow.
- Mark

Erin Go Bragh

Happy St. Patrick's Day from all of us here at Andalusia! To commemorate the occasion I decided to write a brief post about Flannery O'Connor's Irish ancestors. Flannery's attitude to her Irish roots is a mixed bag. On the one hand, O'Connor dropped her first name when she went off to the University of Iowa because she said Mary Flannery sounded like an Irish washerwoman. On the other hand, it was from her Irish ancestors that she was handed the Catholic faith that was so important to her. With a name like O'Connor, most people naturally assume that Flannery's Irish lineage came to her from her father's side of the family. While that is true, her maternal ancestors were Irish, too. Flannery's great-grandfather, Hugh Donnelly Treanor, emigrated from county Tipperary in 1824. He settled in Milledgeville and set up a grist mill on the Oconee River. It was in Hugh Treanor's hotel room that mass was first said in Milledgeville. After he died, his widow, Johannah Harty Treanor donated the land on which Sacred Heart Catholic Church was built in 1874. One of their daughters, Kate, married Peter J. Cline, a prosperous dry-goods store owner in Milledgeville who was also Irish. When she died, Cline married her sister, Margaret Ida, and it was from this union that sixteen children were born, including Flannery's mother, Regina. Regina Cline married Edward O'Connor of Savannah in 1922. Like his wife, he had Irish roots. His grandfather emigrated from Ireland in 1851 and established a livery stable on Broughton St. in Savannah. Yet, it is from neither the Cline nor the O'Connor families that Flannery received her name. She was named for her cousin Katie Semmes' mother, Mary Ellen Flannery, the wife of decorated Confederate army officer, John Flannery. The Flannerys were (you guessed it)....Irish! For more genealogical information on the O'Connor family please consult Brad Gooch's fine biography, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor.
- Mark

How March Marched In

The picture at the right illustrates how the month of March began here in middle Georgia. Despite a high wind advisory yesterday, we had 38 visitors who braved the gusts and brisk temperatures. The windy weather prevailed through the night, too, and at one point knocked out power to the main house. We're up and running now and the day is bright and clear. It's also expected to warm up through the afternoon which should make our peafowl happy. We've yet to see any eggs in the aviary this spring, but I don't think it will be too much longer. More bird news...yesterday one of the females took some spinach from my hand. The male has been doing this for some time now, but yesterday I was able to coax his mate to do likewise. The other female is much more reticent. She is obviously the low bird in their pecking order and usually stands back and lets the others eat first. In preparation for the O'Connor Conference in April (13-16), one of our dedicated volunteers has been painting the chairs on the front porch and do they ever look good. We're also busy cleaning the upstairs guest bedroom and are hoping that it will be open to the public by mid April, if not sooner. Speaking of the O'Connor conference, tickets for the April 16th concert by noted blues guitarist, Dave Perkins, are now on sale at Andalusia for $15 each. The performance will take place at Georgia College. For more information on the Dave Perkins concert or to find out more about the conference, go to our website and click the news and events tab.

- Mark

When in Cincinnati, do as you done in Pittsburgh

Last Friday while my wife, Judy, and I were in Cincinnati visiting family, we had the misfortune to be stopped at a red light in the downtown area late at night. As we were sitting at the intersection an SUV pulled up beside our car and the driver motioned for me to roll down the window. After I did so I could see that he was wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers stocking hat. He asked me what was the meaning of my bumper sticker, "When in Rome, do as you done in Milledgeville." Judy responded to the intoxicated man that it was too complex to go into. He followed up by asking if it had anything to do with Steelers' quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, who allegedly assaulted a 20 year old woman in a Milledgeville night club last March. Judy replied that this was a quote from Flannery O'Connor and was written long before Roethlisberger was born, the implication being of course that there was no relationship between my bumper sticker and the seedy incident that occurred in this town last year. Fortunately, there was no more to this exchange because the light turned green and we drove off. It's sad that the only knowledge some people have of Milledgeville is a pro football player's malfeasance at a local bar and not the great author who lived here half a century ago.
- Mark

Come Sit a Spell

Visitors to Andalusia are certainly aware that our gift shop carries more books by and about Flannery O'Connor than just about any place on earth. What is less well known is that we also sell high quality art photography of the farm, a sample of which is shown at the right. This aptly named picture of our front porch, Come Sit a Spell, was taken by Milledgeville photographer, Maryllis Wolfgang. The framed and signed print sells for $200. For those with smaller budgets, we have notecards with the same picture in the gift shop for $3.00 each. As a good friend of the Foundation, Mrs. Wolfgang donates a portion of the proceeds from every picture she sells at Andalusia to us. If you are interested in learning more about Maryllis and her art, please visit her website http://www.crazywcreations.com/ We think that you'll agree that her photos have a quality that captures the spirit of Andalusia. Finally, on a different topic, please note that the final lecture in February will take place this Sunday at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Milledgeville, not at Andalusia. The lecture by composer Clyde Tipton starts at 4:30 and will feature musical excerpts from his mass for Flannery O'Connor. Refreshments will follow in the church's social hall. Please join us for this unique performance.

- Mark

A Sneak Peek

Just when we were on track to have the coldest winter in Georgia's history, we were thrown a bit of a curve this week. Sunny skies and temperatures in the low 70s have brought us a much welcomed preview of spring. As I turned into the driveway this morning I noticed yellow daffodils blooming along the bank of the front pasture. Elsewhere on the farm, white narcissus are popping up. If you're contemplating a trip to Andalusia, this week-end would be a perfect time to visit. Not only is the fabulous weather going to continue, but on Sunday at 3:00 p.m., Lain Shakespeare, executive director of the Wren's Nest in Atlanta, will give a talk about the on-going restoration work and innovative programming happening at the home of Joel Chandler Harris. We hope to see you then.

- Mark

Happy Birthday FOCA!

The cold, dreary winter continues, but here at Andalusia we have a lot to celebrate. This coming Monday marks the tenth anniversary of the incorporation of the Flannery O'Connor-Andalusia Foundation. Because much restoration work needed to be done on the main house, the property was not open to the public until 2003 when we began offering tours on a limited basis. The following year, we established regular visiting hours, and since that time, have welcomed 24,334 visitors to the O'Connor family home. With your continuing patronage we hope to keep this place going for many years to come.
- Mark

Great Grant!

On a week that has been mostly cold, wet, and dreary, we got a little of sunshine this past Monday when we were notified by the National Park Service that we are the recipients of a Saving America's Treasures grant to help us rescue and restore the Hill House. The $120,000 is by far the largest grant ever awarded The Flannery O'Connor-Andalusia Foundation in its ten year history. This major funding will go far in helping us preserve an important part of Andalusia's history. Speaking of sunshine, the week-end is supposed to be clear and nice. If you're in the area, come on out Sunday afternoon from 3-5 as we kick-off our February Lecture Series with a talk by O'Connnor scholar, Bruce Gentry, and Bill Reeves with the University of Georgia Printing Dept., who will discuss the just-released book, The Cartoons of Flannery O'Connor at Georgia College. If you join us for this event, I promise you will be home in plenty of time for another important kick-off.

- Mark

The Dumb Ox

Today, on the Church's calendar, we celebrate the feast day St. Thomas Aquinas, Flannery O'Connor's favorite saint. By the time she finished college Flannery possessed an impressive knowledge of the thirteenth century saint fondly dubbed "the dumb ox." Later, as an adult, she would read portions of Aquinas's magnum opus, The Summa Theologica, before retiring for the night. In a letter to Betty Hester she quipped, "I read it [the Summa] for about twenty minutes every night before I go to bed. If my mother were to come in during this process and say, 'Turn off the light. It's late,' I with lifted finger and broad bland beatific expression, would reply, 'On the contrary, I answer that the light, being external and limitless cannot be turned off. Shut your eyes.'" (FOC to Betty Hester, August 9, 1955, CW, 945) O'Connor's devotion to St. Thomas also found its way into her fiction most memorably in the short stories, "A Temple of the Holy Ghost" (where there are numerous allusions to Aquinas) and "The Comforts of Home" where the main character, Thomas, chases a "nimpermaniac," Star Drake, from his room by "holding the chair in front of him like an animal trainer driving out a dangerous cat." (CW p.574). According to legend, St. Thomas once chased away a prostitute with a red-hot poker. Regarding this incident, Flannery remarked, "It would be fashionable today to be in sympathy with the woman, but I am in sympathy with St. Thomas." (FOC to Betty Hester, August 9, 1955, CW, 946.)

- Mark

Monastic Meditations

It's a clear, crisp morning here in Milledgeville. Quite a contrast to the drizzly, gray days earlier in the week when my wife, Judy, and I attended a four day Flannery O'Connor retreat at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit near Conyers, Georgia. The retreat, led by Victor Kramer, professor emeritus at Georgia State, focused on how O'Connor's fiction allows contemporary readers to perceive the presence of God's grace in their lives and in the world. With charm and wit, Prof. Kramer demonstrated how O'Connor's characters are offered the freedom to accept or reject God's gifts. There are some who do (e.g. Harry/Bevel in The River) and others who don't (e.g. Tom T. Shiftlet in The Life You Save May Be Your Own). Yet, even in the bleakest of her stories where the characters reject grace, there still remains a glimmer of hope for redemption. If you ever have the opportunity to hear Victor Kramer, I would encourage you to do so. He is absolutely delightful. It is highly appropriate that this retreat was held at the monastery since Flannery and her mother were good friends with some of the monks there, most notably Fr. Paul Bourne and the abbot at the time, Dom Augustine Moore (who also administered last rites to Flannery just before she died). The O'Connors visited the monastery many times between 1961 and 1964. As a sign of the affection Flannery had for the monks, she gave them several of her peacocks which remained at the monastery for about fifteen years until finally their noise created so much of a disturbance that they disappeared mysteriously one night.

- Mark

Arctic Andalusia

Despite a snow and ice storm that paralyzed much of the South early in the week, our intrepid director, Craig, braved the elements on Monday and opened the farm. With the exception of a lone pickup truck that drove through the property and left without stopping, we had no visitors on that day. I was not able to get to Milledgeville on Monday due to ice covering every paved surface between here and my home in Macon. On the heels of this storm we are now being blasted by unusually frigid temperatures. Yesterday morning it was as cold in middle Georgia as it was in Cincinnati. The peacocks seem to be more sluggish than usual as it seems to me they are trying to conserve as much body heat as possible. I'm doing the same and, for the second time this winter, am wearing long johns to work. The propane heaters in the house are running on high and are just barely able to keep up. If it gets as cold as it's supposed to tonight, I wouldn't be surprised to see a layer of ice covering the pond when I get here tomorrow morning.
- Mark