Joel Chandler Harris
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Atlanta Landmark Building
HABS photo from 1985
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Location	Ralph D. Abernathy Blvd., SW, Atlanta, Georgia
Coordinates	33°44′16″N 84°25′20″W / 33.73764°N 84.42219°W / 33.73764; -84.42219
Area	3 acres (1.2 ha)[1]
Built	1870
Architectural style	Late Victorian
NRHP reference No.	66000281
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966[2]
Designated NHL	December 19, 1962[3]
Designated ALB	October 14, 1989

Joel Chandler Harris House, also known as The Wren's Nest or Snap Bean Farm, is a Queen Anne style house at 1050 Ralph D. Abernathy Blvd. (formerly Gordon Street.), SW.^[3][2] in Atlanta, Georgia. Built in 1870, it was home to Joel Chandler Harris, editor of the Atlanta Constitution and author of the Uncle Remus Tales, from 1881 until his death in 1908.^[3][4]

The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962 for its association with Harris, and is also designated as a historic building by the City of Atlanta. It is now a historic house museum.

Overview

The house was built circa 1868 in an area then known for its upper-class residents. Harris began renting the home in 1881 before buying it two years later thanks to earnings from his first book Uncle Remus: Songs and Sayings. He lived here until his death in 1908.^[5] Harris had the home extended with six additional rooms and a new Queen Anne-style facade added in 1884. A furnace, indoor plumbing, and electricity were added circa 1900.^[6]

In the late 1880s and early 1890s, Harris's goddaughter, Daisy Baker, who would become Margaret Dumont, lived at Snap Bean Farm.^[7]

Harris originally referred to the home as Snap Bean Farm, as a reference to fellow author Eugene Field's home Sabine Farm. The name "Wren's Nest" came from his discovery of a family of wrens living in the mailbox in the spring of 1895.^[5]

After several years of correspondence, Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley visited Harris at Wren's Nest in 1900. Harris's children were especially interested in Riley and nicknamed him Uncle Jeems.^[6]

Ultimately, Harris wrote more than twenty books while living in the home as well as several editorials for the Atlanta Constitution and various articles for magazines and newspapers — including his own, The Uncle Remus Home Magazine.^[8]

Modern history

After Harris's death, businessman Andrew Carnegie donated $5,000 toward establishing the home as a museum. He had met Harris there in 1900 during a 20-minute visit.^[6] From 1913 to 1953, the home was managed by the Uncle Remus Memorial Association, a group of volunteers who operated the house as a museum. In 1983, the organization became known as the Joel Chandler Harris Association.^[8]

The home still contains furnishings owned by Harris and utilizes the original paint colors. The house became known as Wren's Nest in 1900 after the Harris children found a wren had built a nest in the mail box; the family built a new mailbox in order to leave the nest undisturbed. The structure was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962.^[1][3][9] The original mailbox that housed the family of wrens and led to the home's name was recreated during a renovation in 1991.^[6]

The organization that maintains the Wren's Nest offers tours and regular storytelling. The organization also has two writing programs for Atlanta area youth: KIPP Scribes, in partnership with APS charter school KIPP STRIVE Academy, and Wren's Nest Publishing Company, an entirely high school student run literary journal.^[10]