Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site

National Historic Site of the United States

United States historic place

Significant dates

Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District
U.S. National Historic Site

Carl Sandburg's last house
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Location	Flat Rock, North Carolina, USA
Nearest city	Hendersonville, North Carolina
Coordinates	35°16′17″N 82°26′50″W / 35.27145°N 82.44723°W / 35.27145; -82.44723
Area	246 acres (100 ha)
Built	1945
Visitation	28,799 (2006)
Website	Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site
NRHP reference No.	68000013
Added to NRHP	October 17, 1968
Designated NHLD	May 23, 1968
Designated NHS	October 17, 1968

Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, located at 81 Carl Sandburg Lane near Hendersonville in the village of Flat Rock, North Carolina, preserves Connemara, the home of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and writer Carl Sandburg. Though a Midwesterner, Sandburg and his family moved to this home in 1945 for the peace and solitude required for his writing and the more than 30 acres (120,000 m) of pastureland required for his wife, Lilian, to raise her champion dairy goats. Sandburg spent the last twenty-two years of his life on this farm and published more than a third of his works while he resided here.

The 264-acre site includes the Sandburg residence, the goat farm, sheds, rolling pastures, mountainside woods, 5 miles (8 km) of hiking trails on moderate to steep terrain, two small lakes, several ponds, flower and vegetable gardens, and an apple orchard.

Visitors to the site can tour the Sandburg residence and visit the dairy barn housing Connemara Farms' goat herd, representing the three breeds of goats Lilian Sandburg raised. From mid-June until mid-August, live performances of Sandburg's Rootabaga Stories and excerpts from the Broadway play, The World of Carl Sandburg, are presented at the park amphitheater.

The Memminger years

In the middle 1830s Christopher Memminger, of Charleston, South Carolina, took a tour of Flat Rock in an attempt to find a summer home. Unable to find a home he liked, he purchased land from Charles Baring, one of the more prominent landholders in the area. In 1838 he hired an architect to begin work on a large summer home in the Greek Revival style. The kitchen house and stable were actually completed first, in the summer of 1838. The house was not complete until 1839. A cook's house was added in 1841, a wagon shed in 1843, and an icehouse in 1845. An addition to the main house was constructed over the course of 1846–1849, and servant quarters were built in 1850.

Memminger called his summer home “Rock Hill,” possibly because the main house was constructed on the gradual slope of Big Glassy Mountain. In 1855, he had a stream in front of the house dammed up to create a small, artificial lake. The Memminger family spent most of their summers after 1839 at Rock Hill, not to be confused with Rock Hill, South Carolina. They lived there full-time from 1864 until the end of the Civil War. During the war, the house was fortified and used as a shelter for friends who needed protection from raids by Union soldiers and Confederate deserters turned bandits.

The Gregg and Smyth years

After Memminger's death, his son Edward sold Rock Hill to Colonel William Gregg, Jr., a Confederate veteran. During his ownership, he built new steps at the front of the house, since the originals had been removed during the war for defense. He also installed a bay window and fireplace mantles. The Greggs used Rock Hill as their summer home for about ten years before they sold it in 1900 to Captain Ellison Adger Smyth.

Smyth changed the name of the house from “Rock Hill” to “Connemara,” after his ancestral district in Ireland. The Smyths winterized the house and enclosed the porch to convert it to a dining room. They also painted the house green for a brief period and even installed an eight-hole golf course in the pastures. The captain and his family used Connemara as a summer home until 1925 when they decided to make it their permanent residence. Smyth died in 1942, and the house remained vacant until 1945.

The Sandburg era

Sandburg purchased Connemara on October 18, 1945, for $45,000 . Mrs. Sandburg had been looking for a new farm in a warmer climate to raise her Chikaming dairy goats. When she showed Connemara to her husband, he reportedly said, “This is the place. We will look no further.” Upon buying the house, the Sandburgs immediately began remodeling. Contractors were hired to work on the heating, plumbing, electrical, the roof and the cement floor of the basement. The Sandburgs installed new chimneys and bathrooms, as well as dozens of bookshelves for his large library. They also repainted the house and installed a new indoor kitchen, having turned the original kitchen building into a three- car garage. The entire remodeling process lasted for some two and a half years. In addition, more than 42,000 lb (19,000 kg) of personal belongings, primarily Sandburg's library, were sent by train from their old house in Harbert, Michigan.

The Sandburgs lived at Connemara from October 1945 to July 1969. Mr. and Mrs. Sandburg lived there along with their three daughters, Margaret, Janet, and Helga, as well as Helga's two children, John Carl and Karlen Paula. Sandburg published more than a third of his works while living at Connemara, and it was at this house he died of natural causes in 1967. After his death, his wife decided to sell Connemara to the U.S. government to preserve the house as a memorial to her husband. The Secretary of Interior and family friend Stewart Udall visited the house in October 1967, and Mrs. Sandburg signed a deed of gift in June of the following year. On October 18, 1968, President Johnson approved a congressional act making the home a historic site. The home officially opened to the public in 1974. The National Park Service restored the house and installed Plexiglas covers over the bookcases during the time between the purchase and its opening.

The site today

Today Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site attracts more than 85,000 visitors a year. The national park is open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

The U.S. government has designated the goats a historic herd. About fifteen goats are kept on the farm at any given time. The interior of the home is arranged in a manner similar to how the Sandburgs maintained it during the 1950s.

The Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, supported by North Carolina's congressional delegation, authorized the expansion of the site by 115 acres (0.47 km) to protect the scenic view, create additional parking, and establish a visitor center.

The park features a writer-in-residence program started in 2010 with the support of the Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara. This program offers emerging writers an opportunity to live and work at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site for three weeks during April.

Gallery

View of the Blue Ridge Mountains from Sandburg's front porch
Exhibit station at the start of the trail to the Sandburg Home
Most rooms, including the study at the Sandburg home, abound with books and periodicals.
Sandburg parlor with piano; the Sandburgs were devotees of singing and musical instruments.
The Sandburg kitchen
Sandburg dining room with 1950s television set, used mainly for news and public affairs programs

References

"National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
"List of National Historic Landmarks" (PDF). National Park Service. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 31, 2009. Retrieved October 15, 2009.
Backlund, Connie Hudson Backlund (September 30, 2008). "Public Invited to 40th Anniversary of National Historic Site" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved October 15, 2009.
Galen Reuther. The Carl Sandburg Home: Connemara, (Charleston, Chicago, Portsmouth, San Francisco: Arcadia Publishing, 2006), 7-9.
Ibid. 9.
Ibid. 21.
David H. Wallace, Historic Furnishings Report: Carl Sandburg Home Main House and Swedish House: National Historic Site / North Carolina, (Frederick, Maryland: 1984), 6.
Elena Miller Park Ranger and Louise Williamson volunteer, interview by author, 9 February 2007, Flat Rock, tour of Carl Sandburg Home National Historic site.
Reuther, Connemara, 41
Wallace, Furnishings Report, 8-19.
Ibid. 20-26.
Miller and Williamson interview.
Harrison Metzger, "Delegation Backs Sandburg Expansion", Times News, Hendersonville, North Carolina, 8 February 2007.
"Carl Sandburg Writer-in-Residence - Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved May 3, 2020.

External links

v t e Carl Sandburg
Bibliography
Notable poems	"Chicago" "Fog" "Cool Tombs" "Grass" "Arithmetic"
Poetry collections	In Reckless Ecstasy Incidentals The Plaint of the Rose Chicago Poems Cornhuskers Smoke and Steel Slabs of the Sunburnt West Selected Poems Good Morning, America The People, Yes
Song collections	The American Songbag Songs of America The New American Songbag
Biographies	Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow Abraham Lincoln: The War Years
Children's books	Rootabaga Stories Rootabaga Pigeons Abe Lincoln Grows Up Early Moon Potato Face Prairie-Town Boy Wind Song
Novel	Remembrance Rock
Essays and criticism	The Family of Man introduction Carl Sandburg at the Movies
Stage productions	Carl Sandburg Tribute (UCLA, 1958) The World of Carl Sandburg
Recordings	Rootabaga Stories Lincoln Portrait Carl Sandburg Reading Fog and other Poems
Related	Birthplace, boyhood home, gravesite Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site Manuscripts and personal papers Carl Sandburg College Edward Steichen (brother-in-law)
Commons Wikibooks Wikiquote Wikisource texts

Protected areas of North Carolina

Federal

National Parks	Great Smoky Mountains
National Historic Sites	Carl Sandburg Home Fort Raleigh
National Memorials	Wright Brothers
National Military Parks	Guilford Courthouse
National Battlefields	Moores Creek
National Parkways	Blue Ridge Parkway Crabtree Falls Craggy Gardens Cumberland Knob Doughton Park E.B. Jeffress Park Julian Price Memorial Park Linville Falls Moses H. Cone Memorial Park Mount Pisgah Waterrock Knob
National Trails	Appalachian Trail Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail
National Seashores	Cape Hatteras Cape Lookout
National Marine Sanctuary	Monitor
National Estuarine Research Reserve	Currituck Banks Rachel Carson Masonboro Island Zeke’s Island
National Forests	Cherokee Croatan Nantahala Pisgah Uwharrie
National Wildlife Refuges	Alligator River Cedar Island Currituck Great Dismal Swamp Mackay Island Mattamuskeet Mountain Bogs Pea Island Pee Dee Pocosin Lakes Roanoke River Swanquarter
Wilderness Areas	Birkhead Mountains Catfish Lake South Ellicott Rock Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Linville Gorge Middle Prong Pocosin Pond Pine Sheep Ridge Shining Rock Southern Nantahala Swanquarter
Wilderness Study Areas	Craggy Mountain Harper Creek Lost Cove Overflow Snowbird
Wild and Scenic Rivers	Chattooga River Horsepasture River Lumber River New River Wilson Creek

State

State Parks	Carolina Beach Carvers Creek Chimney Rock Cliffs of the Neuse Crowders Mountain Dismal Swamp Elk Knob Eno River Fort Macon Goose Creek Gorges Grandfather Mountain Hammocks Beach Hanging Rock Haw River Jockey's Ridge Jones Lake Lake James Lake Norman Lake Waccamaw Lumber River Mayo River Medoc Mountain Merchants Millpond Morrow Mountain Mount Mitchell New River Pettigrew Pilot Mountain Pisgah View Raven Rock Rendezvous Mountain Singletary Lake South Mountains Stone Mountain William B. Umstead
State Recreation Areas	Falls Lake Fort Fisher Jordan Lake Kerr Lake
State Natural Areas	Hemlock Bluffs Lea Island Masonboro Island Mount Jefferson Occoneechee Mountain Theodore Roosevelt Weymouth Woods
State Lakes	Bay Tree Lake Jones Lake Lake Phelps Salters Lake Singletary Lake Lake Waccamaw White Lake
State Trails	Dan River Deep River East Coast Greenway Equine Fonta Flora French Broad River Haw River Trail Hickory Nut Gorge Mountains-to-Sea Northern Peaks Overmountain Victory Roanoke River Saluda Grade Wilderness Gateway Yadkin River
State Rivers	Horsepasture River Linville River Lumber River New River
State Forests	Bladen Lakes DuPont Headwaters Rendezvous Mountain
Educational State Forests	Clemmons Holmes Jordan Lake Mountain Island Turnbull Creek Tuttle
State Historic Sites	Alamance Battleground Charles B. Aycock Birthplace Historic Bath Bennett Place Bentonville Battleground Brunswick Town / Fort Anderson C.S.S. Neuse and Governor Caswell Memorial Charlotte Hawkins Brown Memorial Duke Homestead Historic Edenton Fort Dobbs Fort Fisher Historic Halifax Horne Creek Living Historical Farm House in the Horseshoe North Carolina Transportation Museum President James K. Polk Historic Site Reed Gold Mine Somerset Place Stagville State Capitol Thomas Wolfe Memorial Town Creek Indian Mound Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace
State Coastal Reserves	Bald Head Woods Bird Island Buxton Woods Emily and Richardson Preyer Buckridge Kitty Hawk Woods Permuda Island

Other

Nature centers	List of nature centers in North Carolina

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by county	Alamance Alexander Alleghany Anson Ashe Avery Beaufort Bertie Bladen Brunswick Buncombe Burke Cabarrus Caldwell Camden Carteret Caswell Catawba Chatham Cherokee Chowan Clay Cleveland Columbus Craven Cumberland Currituck Dare Davidson Davie Duplin Durham Edgecombe Forsyth Franklin Gaston Gates Graham Granville Greene Guilford Halifax Harnett Haywood Henderson Hertford Hoke Hyde Iredell Jackson Johnston Jones Lee Lenoir Lincoln Macon Madison Martin McDowell Mecklenburg Mitchell Montgomery Moore Nash New Hanover Northampton Onslow Orange Pamlico Pasquotank Pender Perquimans Person Pitt Polk Randolph Richmond Robeson Rockingham Rowan Rutherford Sampson Scotland Stanly Stokes Surry Swain Transylvania Tyrrell Union Vance Wake Warren Washington Watauga Wayne Wilkes Wilson Yadkin Yancey
Other lists	Bridges National Historic Landmarks

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