Yesterday, I visited the Longfellow National Historic Site in Cambridge Massachusetts. The house is usually closed for
the winter season, but given yesterday was Longfellow's 202nd birthday, it was open for guided tours on this special day. The tour was fantastic, and the
house is a must-see for any visitors to Cambridge. Longfellow lived there for over 40 years, and his descendants kept everything intact (nothing in the house
has been changed since 1912). Just books alone there are over 14,000 in the house.
I am quite crude when it comes to American literature (or any literature, really), but this was such an exceptional site to visit. So it makes me wonder, what other US sites are there dedicated to American writers? According to the NPS guide at Longfellow House, there are only 7 NPS sites dedicated to writers. But of course, there should be plenty more that aren't managed by NPS.
I can think of a few off the top of my head:
Henry David Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond, Concord Mass. The cabin that one can see now is a replica though, and the cabin is only a tiny one-room house with not much to see.
Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House in Concord Mass. I haven't been there yet.
Mark Twain House in Hartford Conn. High on my list of places to visit.
Edith Wharton's estate, The Mount, in Lenox Mass. Also haven't been there yet.
Earnest Hemingway Museum in Key West, FL. My brother & I visited there over a decade ago when I was still in college.
I am quite crude when it comes to American literature (or any literature, really), but this was such an exceptional site to visit. So it makes me wonder, what other US sites are there dedicated to American writers? According to the NPS guide at Longfellow House, there are only 7 NPS sites dedicated to writers. But of course, there should be plenty more that aren't managed by NPS.
I can think of a few off the top of my head:
Henry David Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond, Concord Mass. The cabin that one can see now is a replica though, and the cabin is only a tiny one-room house with not much to see.
Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House in Concord Mass. I haven't been there yet.
Mark Twain House in Hartford Conn. High on my list of places to visit.
Edith Wharton's estate, The Mount, in Lenox Mass. Also haven't been there yet.
Earnest Hemingway Museum in Key West, FL. My brother & I visited there over a decade ago when I was still in college.
