The Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum

The Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum occupies a two story house on Felder Avenue in Old Cloverdale, one of Montgomery’s leafy historic neighborhoods a short drive south of downtown. It describes itself as the only museum in the world devoted to the lives and legacies of the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, a writer and painter who grew up in Montgomery. The neighborhood’s tree lined streets and early twentieth century homes provide a fitting setting for a museum centered on the 1920s and 1930s.

Zelda was a well known figure in Montgomery society as a young woman, and she met Scott at a country club dance in 1918 while he was stationed at nearby Camp Sheridan as an Army officer. Years later, after their famous years in New York and Europe, the couple returned to Montgomery and rented the Felder Avenue house for several months beginning in October 1931. It was the last home the Fitzgeralds shared as a family, and it is the only residence where both of them worked on novels at the same time: Scott on Tender Is the Night and Zelda on Save Me the Waltz. The house offers a rare chance to stand in rooms connected to both of their literary careers.

The house was built around 1904 in a vernacular Georgian style and was divided into apartments over the decades. By the mid 1980s it faced demolition. In 1986 attorney Julian McPhillips and his wife Leslie bought the property to save it, and a museum association they helped establish opened the ground floor to the public in 1989. The museum operates as a nonprofit organization supported by donations, memberships and volunteers. Its rescue preserved an important literary site along with a piece of Old Cloverdale’s architectural character.

Inside, the exhibit rooms present photographs, personal letters, newspaper clippings, books and first editions that follow the couple from their courtship in Montgomery through the Jazz Age and the difficult years that followed. A particular strength is the group of Zelda’s original paintings on display, works that show a side of her creative life often overshadowed by her husband’s fame and by the drama of their public image. The museum also maintains a research library whose catalogue is available online. The displays fill the modest rooms of the house, giving the visit a personal scale that suits the subject.

Beyond the galleries, the museum keeps the Fitzgerald story active through programs and outreach. It sponsors literary contests, including a writing competition named for Zelda Sayre, and produces podcasts such as Fitz Tales: Flappers and Philosophers and Zelda’s Peaches and Biscuits. Upstairs, two furnished suites named for Scott and Zelda are offered as short term rentals, giving overnight guests the chance to stay in the same house where the couple once lived and wrote. The house also hosts occasional private events, which can affect public hours on certain days.

The museum is open Thursday through Sunday from 10am to 3pm, and Wednesdays are set aside for school and group tours by appointment. Admission is a suggested $5 donation per person. Parking is available alongside the house on Dunbar Street, and a ramp provides access at the front entrance, though the original driveway is narrow. Because the museum occasionally closes for private events, visitors planning a trip should check the website or call ahead before arriving.