Alabama town expanding Harper Lee attractions
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Nearly a year after the death of Harper Lee, a group in south Alabama hopes to develop new attractions and bring more tourists to the novelist’s hometown of Monroeville, which helped inspire both “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Go Set a Watchman.”
Working with Lee’s attorney Tonja Carter and others, local businessman and philanthropist George Landegger has purchased the 1909 bank building that housed the one-time office of Lee’s father A.C. Lee — who served as the model for attorney Atticus Finch in both books.
Organizers plan to renovate the 6,000-square-foot building and convert it into a museum in Monroeville, where Lee died in February 2016. Other attractions could be added later, including renovations of historic structures and reproductions of places mentioned in the books. A museum in the old county courthouse already prominently features Lee and author Truman Capote, childhood friend of Lee.
Alabama Tourism Director Lee Sentell, who has been involved with discussions about the project, answered questions about plans to spruce up Monroeville, which served as Lee’s model for fictional Macomb in both “Mockingbird,” which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961, and “Watchman,” which Lee actually wrote first but released decades later in 2015.