James Thurber — cartoonist, humorist, and the funniest sad man in American letters — grew up at 77 Jefferson Avenue, and Columbus has turned his family’s home into a literary museum and writing center bubbling with life.
The restored Victorian house preserves the setting of “My Life and Hard Times” (yes, the house that seemed to lean, in a streetcar-haunted neighborhood), hosts Thurber’s drawings and memorabilia, and runs writing classes, author evenings — the celebrated Evenings with Authors series — and summer writing camps for kids in the Thurber Center next door.
The statue of the Thurber dog outside may be Columbus’ most charming photo stop.
“Let us not look back in anger,” Thurber advised, “nor forward in fear — but around in awareness.” His house makes that easy and funny.
