Julie's National Parks: CARL SANDBURG HOME, National Historic Site

“It is necessary now and then for a man to go away by himself and experience loneliness; to sit on a rock in the forest and to ask himself, ‘Who am I, and where have I been, and where am I going?’”

Carl Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. In 1965 he received honors from the NAACP for his coverage of the 1919 Chicago race riots and for his life-long struggle to extend the frontiers of social justice. Carl Sandburg spent a lifetime exploring what it meant to be an American and asked the eternal questions, “Who am I, and where have I been, and where am I going?” He did this through poetry, song, lectures, writing and lasting friendships with kindred spirits. Carl Sandburg and his family moved to a Flat Rock, North Carolina estate, Connemara, in 1945 and lived there until his death on July 22, 1967. In 1968 Congress authorized the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, the first park to honor a poet. The Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site is located on 264 acres in Western North Carolina. In addition to tours of the house, it also has over five miles of trails and beautiful gardens.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

The garage.

The beautiful barn for the goats.

This is another small house on the property.
Visiting poets are allowed to use it to write.

Mrs. Sandburg owned and operated a premier goat dairy from 1935 to 1965. At Connemara, the dairy became a Grade A operation, with milk being distributed to local dairies and sold in stores around the community. Mrs. Sandburg's goat breeding program produced champion goats and led to the improvement of goats as milk producing animals.

The very best part of the visit is when you are greeted by

the descendents of Mrs. Sandburg's dairy goat herd.

They are beautiful goats!