Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum | Montgomery

The Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery is the only dedicated museum in the world honoring the famous literary couple, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. It occupies the last surviving home where the two lived together as husband and wife, making it not just a museum but also a deeply personal historic site tied to their turbulent lives.

Location and Setting
The museum is housed in a two-story 1910s home in the Old Cloverdale neighborhood of Montgomery, a leafy residential district just south of downtown. Scott and Zelda lived in the house briefly from 1931 to 1932 with their daughter, Scottie. Today, the home preserves both their legacy and their connection to Montgomery, Zelda’s birthplace.

Historical Context

Zelda’s Roots: Zelda Sayre was a Montgomery native, a prominent figure in the city’s social scene before she married F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1920. Their whirlwind romance and marriage became symbolic of the Jazz Age glamour that Scott chronicled in his novels.

The Couple’s Residency: By the time they moved into this Montgomery house, their marriage was strained by Scott’s alcoholism and Zelda’s mental health struggles. It was here that Zelda began writing her only novel, Save Me the Waltz, and Scott worked on Tender Is the Night. Their stay was short but significant, marking the last time they shared a household.

Later History: The house fell into disrepair over the decades but was saved by local preservationists who recognized its cultural importance. It was converted into a museum in the 1980s.

Exhibits and Collection
The museum is intimate, with rooms curated to reflect both Scott and Zelda’s lives:

Personal Artifacts: Letters, photographs, books, and personal belongings of the Fitzgeralds.

Manuscripts and First Editions: Early editions of Scott’s novels such as The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, and Tender Is the Night, as well as Zelda’s writings.

Art by Zelda: Zelda was a painter as well as a writer, and the museum displays examples of her distinctive, colorful artwork.

Period Rooms: Furnishings evoke the 1930s domestic setting, grounding the literary history in a lived environment.

Programs and Cultural Role
The Fitzgerald Museum is more than a static historic house; it operates as a literary and cultural center:

Events: Annual galas, literary festivals, and themed parties celebrate the Fitzgeralds’ Jazz Age legacy.

Writer-in-Residence Program: The upstairs portion of the home is used for an artist residency, offering writers a chance to live and work in the same space the Fitzgeralds once inhabited.

Educational Tours: School groups, scholars, and visitors learn about both the glamour and the hardships of the Fitzgeralds’ lives, offering a nuanced perspective on their mythic status.

Visitor Experience
The museum’s scale is modest, but this intimacy gives it a unique charm. Walking through the rooms feels less like visiting a formal institution and more like stepping into the personal world of Scott and Zelda. Visitors encounter not only their triumphs as icons of the Roaring Twenties but also their struggles as human beings, reflected in manuscripts filled with revisions, Zelda’s paintings, and the preserved family setting.

Legacy and Importance
The Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum preserves the story of two figures who shaped American literature and culture, while also highlighting Montgomery’s role in that story. It connects the glamour of the Jazz Age to a Southern city where Zelda was born, and where one of the most famous literary marriages of the 20th century played out its final chapters.

It stands today as both a literary shrine and a personal memorial, offering visitors an unusually direct link to the private lives behind two of America’s most celebrated-and tragic-creative voices.