The Wren's Nest - Joel Chandler Harris' Home

Most people today have heard of Splash Mountain at the Disney parks and some of those people realize the story behind the ride is from a movie called Song of the South. Still fewer people know the origin of that story, Uncle Remus. Joel Chandler Harris wrote the Uncle Remus stories from stories he heard as a child, passed down from slaves. It was a subset of those tales told by slaves that eventually became the story inside Splash Mountain.

Ironically, the movie derived from old slave stories, Song of the South, hasn’t been released in the United States for many years because, rumor has it, Disney is afraid the movie will offend blacks. If you’ve seen the movie, you know the blacks in the movie are the only ones with their heads on straight and it’s the white people who should be offended, but that has nothing to do with the point of this post and I digress.

So much for the insightful history lesson. On to the attraction!

The Wren’s Nest is Harris’ restored home is Atlanta Georgia. Built in 1870, the home was named in 1900 after a pair of wrens nested in Harris’ mailbox that spring. He quickly installed a second mailbox so as not to disturb the nesting pair. Visitors can see his house, buy copies of his books (in either their original form or an easier to read, modern form) and hear the stories of Br’er Rabbit retold by professional storytellers.

If you spend a day or two in Atlanta, I’d recommend dedicating an hour or two to this attraction.