One Flight through Monroeville

I feel like today was an especially important day on this trip. I have always been fascinated with the long friendship between Truman Capote and Harper Lee. I remember being amazed that the character of Dill was based on the author of "Christmas Memories." When I began to think of an outline for a trip to the South, I designed it around my interest in Harper Lee and Truman Capote. How did a young boy with a tragic background become the flamboyant man whose life and works captured a nation? How did this deep friendship affect their works? How did Lee's experiences of race affect her novel? As I began thinking I knew I wanted to explore more about race, religion and identity and how it shaped the South, and shapes the work of those writing in it.

So, it was with MUCH excitement that I arrived in Monroe, Alabama to see this setting for myself!

I began in the Monroe Country Heritage Museum. Here I learned about the county, its legal system, and two of its most famous literary figures!

CAPOTE!

I have always been fascinated by his relationship with Sook, his eccentric aunt, and one of the people who truly accepted and supported him, and from whom he was taken away.

One of the homemade blankets that Truman used to comfort himself.

Sook's "coat of a thousand colors" from Christmas Memories.

After these exhibits I was able to visit the original court room. As you can see, it was the court room used and modeled in To Kill a Mockingbird.

I spent a lot of time exploring the town, but seeing the site of Capote's house was the highlight for me!

Harper Lee's house is now the site of a dairy stand, but the crumbled remains of the stone wall that separated Truman and Harper as children still remains.