Columbus extended Southern hospitality to 27 visitors from Australia this past week. The group, many of them members of the Jane Austen Society of Australia, toured the first home of two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams Tuesday, as well as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Steve Pieschel and Brenda Caradine led them through the historic church where Williams’ grandfather, the Rev. Walter Dakin, served as rector.
The group, which stayed two nights in the Friendly City, also visited Mississippi University for Women, where they went to Welty Hall, named for Eudora Welty, once a student at the university. They viewed Welty artifacts and also learned about the history of the school and its music education program, which was so important to Edwina Dakin, Tennessee Williams’ mother. They heard, too, of early art classes taken by William Faulkner’s grandmother. Dr. Bridget Pieschel conducted the tour that included a visit to the Women’s Studies department that she heads.
“They were a wonderful group and were all fascinated with Columbus and our literary history,” Pieschel remarked. “All in all, they were charmed by the beauty and history of our campus and its significant connection to women’s education and to Southern literature in general.”
Red carpet, Southern style
Visit Columbus and the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation treated the group to a double decker bus tour of the city and organized other events.
“They enjoyed a delightful champagne lunch on the veranda at Whitehall, the home of Dr. Joe and Carol Boggess,” said Nancy Carpenter, who leads the foundation. “And they had a wonderful night at Temple Heights, with a Southern dinner prepared by Marty Wages and Table of Plenty and entertainment by Dixie Butler and Judie Granderson Holmes.
“For some of them, it was their first time to have mint juleps,” added Carpenter, who heard enthusiastic reviews from the group about their time in Columbus.
Archivist Mona Vance-Ali showed the Australian tourists the Tennessee Williams Collection at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library Billups-Garth Archives.
“They saw the movie posters, playbills, programs and pressbooks … ” said Vance-Ali. “They took lots of photos and asked lots of questions. I really enjoyed being able to showcase what we have here in Columbus, especially since it’s unusual to find an archives like this in a town this size.”
The “Southern Charms and Comforts: A Literary Tour of the Deep South of the USA” tour is led by Peter Cox and authoress and Jane Austen Society of Australia president Susannah Fullerton for ASA Tours. They praised the signature Southern hospitality they are enjoying. Other stops in Mississippi include Oxford, Jackson and Natchez. The group is also visiting sites in Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana.
Southern Literary Trail Director William Gantt helped coordinate elements of the tour.
“We’re thrilled that our town is supported by the Southern Literary Trail and that Columbus had these visitors from Australia who wanted to come to the birthplace of Tennessee Williams,” said Caradine, founder and director of the annual Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian Homes each September.
The Australians’ Columbus experience was so successful, Carpenter said, that she is already working on a visit by a different tour group from Australia, set for 2016.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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