Editor’s note: A earlier version of this story had the incorrect time of the grand opening event. The event begins at 5:30 p.m.
The Tennessee Williams Home and Welcome Center will finally reopen to the public Monday after completing hundreds of thousands of dollars in renovations, though funding for the site’s future remains unsecured.
The reception will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the house opening its doors after for food and tours.
“It’s going to be a beautiful day,” said Nancy Carpenter, CEO for the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation. “We’re inviting guests in from across the state, and we’ve gotten the Golden Triangle Singers under the direction of Garrett Torbert to sing part of their Nov. 7 concert. Then we’ll invite people inside for refreshments and tours. It’s going to be delightful.”
The Tennessee Williams home has been closed since April for renovations, initially to replace exterior wood and interior plaster. But the project expanded when engineers got underneath the building and found more issues, Carpenter said.
“They discovered that some of the sills had started rotting and would have to be replaced,” Carpenter said. “They actually elevated the house at four different points between four and six inches. Now we feel very good about it, it will certainly outlive most of the people at the reopening.”
With the additional work, costs ballooned from $195,000 to more than $300,000, Carpenter said.
Grants from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the Mississippi Hills Heritage Area covered $265,000 of the costs, while the city chipped in $54,000 in matching money.
The welcome center will be open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. Three part-time CCHF employees will staff the center, Carpenter said.
History of organizations & funding
Mississippi Department of Transportation donated the home to the city in 2008. At that time, CCHF was established as the building’s owner, with CVB providing annual funding for the building’s maintenance. The two organizations shared a director and board until a 2023 ruling by the Mississippi Ethics Commission forced them to establish separate boards.
The CVB provided about $101,000 to the foundation for its operations last fiscal year. But when the CVB offered a contract after the split to provide $81,000 for this fiscal year, the CCHF rejected it. Terms of that contract also would have required the CCHF to provide a budget with receipts, not use the funding for employee salaries, and provide the CVB with access to its meetings and the home.
“They did not (give us a reason why the contract was rejected),” said CVB board attorney John Brady. “We offered them a contract of funding for $81,000 for this fiscal year with some conditions, but they rejected it without explanation or any type of counterproposal.”
Frances Glenn, the CVB’s marketing and tourism director, did not respond to questions about whether it would offer CCHF another funding contract next year. Even if it does, Brady said budgetary discussions don’t start until summer or fall 2025.
Brenda Willis, chair for the CCHF board, told The Dispatch in early October that there had “never been any question” in the past about CVB funding and the contract took the CCHF board “by surprise,” contributing to the Cultural Heritage Foundation rejecting it.
However, Willis told The Dispatch on Friday that CCHF does not have any ongoing funding sources it can name publicly.
“We’re continuing to work on funding. I don’t have any information in detail I can give, I don’t want to get into that today,” she said Friday. “… I don’t want to give any details and jeopardize any funding today. … I feel sure that we’re going to be OK. I don’t have anything like a number I can give.”
Willis declined to say how long the CCHF can pay its four employees, including Carpenter, or how long it can fund the maintenance of the Williams house without a new revenue source. The house eventually reverts to control by the Mississippi Department of Transportation if it’s not operated as a welcome center, but Willis did not answer questions Friday about the specifics of that contract.
The Dispatch contacted MDOT, but public information officer David Kenney could not provide contract details by press time. The Dispatch has submitted a public records request to MDOT for the contract.
Both Carpenter and Willis pointed to a contractual easement by the CVB committing to support the Tennessee Williams house for 25 years, claiming the CVB is obligated to fund the building’s maintenance, although the CCHF hasn’t received a response from the CVB on what form that will take in the future.
“We have not heard back from them on that easement,” Carpenter said. “We are in the process of making a lot of determinations, but right now we’re just trying to get that restoration completed. Then we’re going to continue with raising the money for ongoing maintenance, which is underway right now.”
Brady confirmed that he’d received the CCHF inquiry and was aware of the documents, though he disagreed with CCHF’s interpretation of responsibilities.
“Yes, I received some such documents,” he said. “They were sent to me by the foundation’s attorney just to make sure that I was aware of them. I reviewed them and they provide no obligation for the CVB to fund the foundation.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
