MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — On Friday, Georgia College & State University will open the new Andalusia Interpretive Center.
On the eve of O'Connor's 98th birthday, the center will open for free tours from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Guests will be able to see her home from 1951 until her death in 1964, and explore some of the elements that inspired her writing.
The ribbon cutting ceremony will start at 10 a.m., and will kick off a two day celebration.
The Interpretive Center at Andalusia is a 5,300 square foot facility dedicated to preserving and interpreting O'Connor's life and literary legacy.
On Saturday the celebration continues with book signings, discussions, and even cake and singing!
The first signing begins at 1 p.m., featuring author Amy Alznauer, who wrote “The Strange Birds of Flannery O’Connor."
After that, the community is invited to sing happy birthday and enjoy cake at 2 p.m.
The event will close out around 6 p.m. with Dr. Monica Miller giving a lecture on her book “Dear Regina: Flannery O’Connor’s Letters from Iowa.”
O'Connor's legacy is surely a staple in Milledgeville, and members of her alma matter are working hard to make sure the community is able to explore her history.
In a release, Georgia College Director of Museums Matt Davis says the Center is a big step in restoring the farm where O’Connor wrote many of her published works, and that appeared in stories like “Good Country People,” “A Circle in the Fire” and “The Displaced Person.”
"For fans, the improvement is two-fold,” Davis said. "It will improve and continue to enhance what you can experience about the life of Flannery O’Connor at Andalusia, and it also helps us to take all the non-original functions out of the house museum and recreate the environment Flannery knew when she lived there.”
For more information on the Andalusia Interpretive Center's opening, you can visit GCSU.edu.