Columbus’ Tennessee Williams Home getting some renovations

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Things are about to get a lot busier at Columbus’ Tennessee Williams Home and Welcome Center.

Besides playing host to thousands of visitors, the home will be abuzz with construction workers as well.

The Welcome Center has been awarded 2 grants from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the Mississippi Hills Heritage Area for repairs and renovation, including plasterwork inside, and repainting outside.

Another change coming to the outside, a longtime educator and Pilgrimage homeowner, Dixie Butler is making a donation to commission a life-size, bronze statue of Tennessee Williams that will be installed in front of the home.

Visit Columbus CEO, Nancy Carpenter is excited about the artwork’s ability to draw in visitors.

“We think that it’s going to allow people to drive up to the Tennessee Williams House Museum and Welcome Center, park their car, get out of their car, and come and take a picture like this has been done in Oxford and other places, and then they will decide, ‘I think we’ll shop a little, or maybe we can eat’,” said Nancy Carpenter.

Renovations are expected to start in a few months.

The work on the sculpture is expected to take about a year.