Tags: literary sites

The Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians

The Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians operates a museum in McCullers's childhood home, presents extensive educational and cultural programs for the community, maintains an ever-growing archive of materials related to the life and work of McCullers, and offers fellowships for writers and composers who live for periods of time in the Smith-McCullers home in Columbus.

Thurber House

Founded in 1984, Thurber House is a nonprofit literary arts center, James Thurber museum, historic landmark, and gathering place for readers, writers, and artists of all ages. Thurber House is based in the restored 1873 home of humorist, cartoonist, author, playwright, and journalist James Thurber, widely considered one of the foremost American humorists of the 20th century. Thurber House programs include The Thurber Prize for American Humor, author events featuring nationally bestselling authors and local authors, writing workshops for children and adults, writer residencies, and more.

Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site

Carl Sandburg and his family lived in this house from 1945 until Sandburg’s death in 1967. The park is located on 270 acres in western North Carolina. The average visit is 2 hours.

Today, National Park Service Rangers or park volunteer guides offer tours through the writer’s house. Visitors can also drop in on the bookstore, which offers a broad selection of Sandburg’s works.

Margaret Mitchell House

Located at the corner of 10th Street and Peachtree Street, Atlanta History Center Midtown contains the Margaret Mitchell House, a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Margaret Mitchell House features guided tours of the apartment where Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone With the Wind, a Gone With the Wind movie exhibition, an exhibition showcasing the life and times of Mitchell, and the Margaret Mitchell gift shop.

Robinson Jeffers Tor House

Robinson Jeffers built Tor House and Hawk Tower as a home and refuge for himself and his family.  It was in Tor House that Jeffers wrote all of his major works: the long narratives of “this coast crying out for tragedy,” the shorter meditative lyrics and dramas on classical themes, and the critically acclaimed adaptation of Medea for the Broadway stage. The Tor House Foundation offers docent-led tours, curates a performance and reading series, and sponsors an annual Robinson Jeffers Poetry Prize. 

Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home

Flannery O’Connor lived in this house at 207 East Charlton Street in Savannah from her birth in 1925 until 1938. Visitors to the house museum can see the home as it would have looked when the O’Connor family lived there. The Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home also offers a variety of free events throughout the year, including free Sunday lecture series in both the spring and the fall, and the Annual Ursrey Memorial Lecture, which has brought Michael Cunningham, Allan Gurganus, and Jaimy Gordon to Savannah.

Eudora Welty House

For 76 years, Eudora Welty lived and wrote in her home on 1119 Pinehurst Place in Jackson, Mississippi. The Eudora Welty House is a National Historic Landmark and one of the nation’s most intact literary house museums. Restored by the Mississipi Department of Archives and History after her death in 2001, the Eudora Welty House is open for tours by reservation. 

Paul Laurence Dunbar House

A modest two-story red brick building with nine rooms, the Paul Laurence Dunbar House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966. The surrounding Dunbar Historic District, named after the poet and author, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on June 30, 1980. Dunbar wrote many of his works while living in Dayton. Today, the house serves as a Dunbar museum and is open for tours.

Willa Cather’s Childhood Home

Willa Cather came to Nebraska from Virginia in 1883 when she was nine years old. The Cather family lived in this home in Red Cloud from 1884 to 1904, a formative period in Cather’s development as a writer. Willa Cather describes the house in great detail in her novel The Song of the Lark and her short story “Old Mrs. Harris.” Visitors can see some of her original possessions still displayed there, as well as the family’s household items throughout the home.

The Steinbeck House

Built in 1897 and restored in 1973, this Queen Anne Victorian served as the birthplace and childhood home of John Steinbeck. Today, the house is operated by The Valley Guild as a luncheon restaurant. Tours and private parties are available.

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