I visited the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, which is the home where the Girl Scouts founder spent her early years. It brought back some memories of my years in the Girl Scouts. Yeah, it’s hard to believe, but I once did a stint in the Girl Scouts. Excuse me while I offload the joys and traumas of that childhood experience here.

A Traumatic Experience on The Catwalk.

My mother has helped me develop into a strong and independent woman. I’m an adult now, and she’s consistently horrified at my sense of humor, salty language, and for once running after her in the supermarket with a pouch marked, “cock soup” and shouting, “MOM, IT’S YOUR FAVORITE, COCK SOUP!” Still, I think she’s proud of the woman that she helped me become.

Part of what would help me on my journey to becoming an independent young woman was joining Girl Scouts. At five years old, she signed me into a local troop. I really liked being a Girl Scout, but there were some questionable moments.

There was the time that we had a “dolly fashion show.” One evening, we arrived at the headquarters in our finest dresses and walked down a makeshift runway with our favorite doll. As my troop sat at our assigned table, one of the other little girls in our group, unprovoked, lifted up my doll’s dress and called her a ‘whore’ for NOT WEARING ANY UNDERWEAR.

“Look! You can see her butt right under her dress!” She screamed this and the rest of the kids laughed. I was mortified that she showed everyone my doll’s butt. I felt betrayed by my doll and her lack of panties and thus refused to let her join me on the catwalk. I strutted solo. Me and that doll ended on bad terms. I distinctly remember ripping her legs off her body and shoving her under the stairs.

Whore dolls be damned, I have genuinely good memories of being a Girl Scout. Although it was something I only did for a few years, my experiences really helped me develop into a person I’m proud to be.

My Elephant Had a Penis Nose.

But, wait. One more tale from the vault.

It was “international night” at my town’s Girl Scout headquarters, which really never goes well in an all white town, does it. Each troop was a different nation, and we all got to walk to every to try different ethnic food and listen to music and stories. My troop was assigned some country that had a jungle.

At home, hours before the big ‘razzle dazzle’ event, my mom and I began drawing scenes from the jungle onto my white smock. All the girls in my troop would be wearing one and we needed to decorate it with scenes from the jungle. Keep in mind, I would be wearing this fucking smock in front of dozens of people.

My mom had an idea for a real show-stopping piece right in the middle of my smock. She began drawing the most ridiculous looking elephant. It looked nothing like an elephant. It literally had a penis for a nose. Dicknose: King of the jungle. My mother took learning opportunities very seriously, so I know she didn’t purposely create the drawing with obscenity in mind.

BUT, she must have been mortified at how it turned out because I clearly remember her making me tell my troop friends and leaders that I had drawn the elephant myself, with his mighty penis-looking nose. If she reads this she’s going to say it’s not true, BUT IT’S 100 PERCENT TRUE, GUYS.

But, There Were Good Times, Too.

I grew up an only child, and I was really attached to my mom. I remember screaming and crying at my first girl scout meeting because I had to sit in a different room from my mother, and instead had to sit with all the other girls. I was not used to making new friends. Plus, the other little girls were basic bitches, and I knew from the moment I saw them we had nothing in common. (Joking. About some of them.)

On that day and from that day forward however, I learned a little bit how to interact with others, initiate conversations, to rely on myself when I needed to, and to be brave. The rest of my days in Girl Scouts taught me similar lessons, and I have many happy memories of creating, exploring, and learning.

The stories of the good times are endearing, but not nearly as funny, and so I won’t include them. But, trust me when I say that Girl Scouts teaches everything that it’s supposed to teach.

A Remarkable Tour Guide at the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace.

Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones that were surging when we visited, but I was touched during our tour. When we entered the first room of the house, our tour guide asked who in the group had been a former girl scout. Four women including myself raised our hands, and our guide announced, “Well, welcome home then.” *Sobs uncontrollably.*

It was cool that us four women were from different areas of the country, looked entirely different from one another, but all shared this common thread of having been Girl Scouts. Our upbringings may have varied in many ways, but the lessons and values instilled in us from Juliet Gordon Low’s Girl Scout organization were the same.

Our tour guide used canes to walk due to a permanent mobility issue, and she was not shy about discussing this. She was so proud of the work that the organization was doing to help women of varying levels of ability. Representation matters, and I personally think that it was awesome to see a person who uses canes in a leadership position. People with diverse viewpoints also matter because those people can often spot things that others maybe cannot.

For instance, our guide offered me (several months pregnant) special accommodations such as use of the elevator. It was nice to not have to ask to use it and worry if I would be labeled as “a fat, lazy, pregger.” She also quickly spotted who was having difficulty with stairs and the pace of the tour and modified accordingly. Basically, she was a super hero, guys. And not to mention exceedingly hospitable, comical, and kind.

Who Was Juliette Gordon Low?

So, in case you weren’t aware, Juliette Gordon Low was the founder of the Girl Scouts of America. Her nickname was “Daisy” and the youngest group of Girl Scouts are referred to as Daisies. She was the second oldest of six children and her parents were prominent society folks from Savannah. This explains the grand stature of her birth home.

There was a lot of tumult in Daisy’s life. Her parents were conflicting folks. While they tried to instill the importance of community service and kindness, it’s hard to just overlook the fact that they were slave owners, you know? Daisy fell in love with and eventually married William Low, who was the son of a very wealthy British businessman. Her parents didn’t feel that he was a suitable match, but the two were wed anyway. Daisy became even more of a society woman and was swept up in a life of parties and court visits.

Backtracking, she also suffered from reoccurring childhood ear infections. At her wedding ceremony, rice was thrown in celebration and a piece happened to get lodged in the same ear that was constantly infected. This led to permanent hearing loss. Ouch. By way of more tragedy, Daisy’s husband died in 1905 after years of their marriage going south.

Daisy’s feeling of being lost and without purpose was really the catalyst for the inception of the Girl Scouts of America. From that moment on she very much defied convention.

Touring the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace.

On the tour, you have the opportunity to visit all of the rooms of the home which was her birthplace. It was a pleasure to see the mahogany staircase where Juliette was taught by her mother to slide down the banister. The original artwork pieces and furnishings make it clear that this was a warm home filled with a lot of love, at least within the family. While the house itself isn’t huge and there isn’t so much to see, it’s certainly impressive with its high ceilings and classic trappings of the time period.

After the tour, you have the opportunity to walk around the gardens and visit the gift shop. The shop carries products that are made by women or are from women-owned businesses around the world. Products carry a high standard of ethics, meaning that they are locally sourced or purchased through fair trade initiatives.

All of this served as a good reminder of the overall compassionate and inspirational spirit of the Girl Scout organization. Without giving too much away, it was an honor to learn the history at the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, and how Juliette paved the way for so many women. She was strong-minded and brave in a time when it certainly wasn’t in vogue for women to do so. I feel really grateful to have been enrolled in the Girl Scouts by my mother as a young child.

To learn Juliette’s story by visiting this house is to learn so much about how far women have come in society and how much we owe to the women who came before us. If you’re looking for a glimmer of happiness, hope, and history, please visit!

Looking for more to do in Savannah? Check out the Savannah Prohibition Museum!