After years of neglect, and after decades of being in a state of unrestored limbo, the Gertrude "Ma" Rainey House in Columbus is all dressed up and ready to rock. Exhibits in the Rainey Museum interpret the life and career of Ma Rainey, and trace the history and influences of the blues tradition of the lower Chattahoochee River Valley, a region for which Columbus is the population and cultural center.  You'll find the house museum at 805 5th Avenue.

When Gertrude "Ma" Rainey ended her show business career in 1935 after a lifetime of performing on the road, she moved back to her hometown of Columbus and settled into a a two-story "shotgun" house on Fifth Avenue. Rainey lived in the house for less than five years before she died of heart failure Dec. 22, 1939, at just 53 years old. Ma Rainey left behind a legacy as the "Mother of the Blues." During her long career, she tutored, sponsored, performed with, and recorded with many of the foremost pioneers of American blues and jazz -- Louis Armstrong, Thomas A. Dorsey, Blind Blake and the list goes on.