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Tennessee Williams
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With such a rich musical heritage, is it any surprise that Clarksdale and Coahoma County also have a rich literary heritage as well? Clarksdale was the childhood home of America’s most performed playwright, Tom “Tennessee” Williams.
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Williams’ grandfather, Reverend Walter Dakin, served as rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church for 16 years. As a small child, Tom Williams often accompanied his grandfather on parish calls and it was during these parish calls that his vivid imagination must have soaked up church gossip and expanded colorful local tales. Many of the settings and characters of Williams’ works were based on real places and people.
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Moon Lake and Moon Lake Casino (now Uncle Henry’s Place - a restaurant and bed and breakfast) are prominantly featured in many of Williams’ works. Young Tom made frequent stops at these locations during the parish calls that he made with Rev. Dakin.
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In Remember Me to Tom, a memoir written by his mother, Williams described his youth in Mississippi: “Before I was eight, my life was completely unshadowed by fear. I lived in a small Mississippi town. My mother and my sister and I lived with our grandparents while my father traveled around the state selling clothing for men. My sister and I were gloriously happy...”
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St. George’s Episcopal Church and its parsonage, where Williams lived, are still active today. Walking tours are available and allow visitors to tour the nearby historic neighborhood that greatly influenced many of the characters and events that are so well known in Williams’ plays and screen adaptations such as Summer and Smoke, The Glass Menagerie, Twenty-Four Wagons of Cotton (the movie Baby Doll), A Streetcar Named Desire and many more. A tour map of the historic district is available.
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There is also an annual Tennessee Williams Festival held each October to celebrate the playwright’s works.
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