The write stuff in Columbus.

“I want magic!” --Blanche DuBois, from Streetcar Named Desire

Columbus’ first act offers plenty of magic:  the boyhood home of playwright Tennessee Williams, which now serves as the city’s welcome center.  America’s premier playwright was born in Columbus in 1911 and spent his early years in this yellow and gray Victorian festooned with gingerbread, which was then the rectory for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church where Williams’ maternal grandfather, the Reverend Walker Dakin, served.

Williams’ classic plays, like Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Glass Menagerie, were often steeped in longing for home and memories of grand residences like Belle Reeve, Blanche DuBois’ ancestral home.  In the early twentieth century there were hundreds of striking prototypes for that mythical mansion right here in Columbus; today more than 200 antebellum homes still grace the streets of this charming city, where every year during Spring Pilgrimage horse-drawn carriages add to the delight.  Surely the playwright who so loved beautiful things would appreciate the city’s annual Tennessee Williams Tribute Weekend and Victorian Home Tour, where both playwright and place are celebrated.

Please note that it’s not necessary to wait for the Tennessee Williams weekend or Pilgrimage for an inside peek; many of these beauties are open every day.  Also, please note that like Williams’ famous heroines, these elegant homes offer more than pretty faces; many have historic and social significance.