Greenville - Childhood Home of Ray Charles
Ray Charles "RC" Robinson, the musical genius, was born in Greenville, FL. Who knew? I certainly did not... where I have been all this time? Driving to Louisiana for Christmas, I spotted a billboard that advertised his childhood home, just miles off the interstate. This is what my "challenge" is all about. Embracing new experiences as they come along my way. So took the exit and drove the short distance to Greenville. What a tiny town. This house shown in the photo included is a reconstruction of the home where musician Ray Charles (1930-2004) lived with his mother, Aretha Williams, and adopted grandmother, Margaret "Muh" Robinson, shortly after his birth in 1930 until about the age of five. "RC," as Ray was known by his friends, received his first piano instruction from Wiley Pitman, owner of the nearby Red Wing Cafe. Ray and his mother later moved into a small house behind the cafe. At age seven, Ray's sight failed after witnessing his brother's drowning and he was sent to the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine. The modest wood frame vernacular house he grew up in was probably constructed in the 1920s. It had no electricity or indoor plumbing. Meals were prepared on a wood-burning stove. A hand-primed pump supplied water from a well next to the house. A fireplace in one of the four small rooms provided warmth, and open windows and doors allowed breezes to cool the house. Because of advanced deterioration, the abandoned house was scheduled for demolition. In 2006, the Town of Greenville purchased the structure to preserve the memory of Ray Charles. With a grant from the Florida Bureau of Historic Preservation, the Town completed the reconstruction of the house in 2008. I'm so glad I veered off the planned path for this little adventure.
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