Carl and Mrs. Sandburg

I intended to spend a day exploring Hendersonville, NC but I started out at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historical Site in Flat Rock, and ended up spending the whole day there. I've never been a huge fan of Sandburg, but I remember my dad had the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lincoln biography volumes for which he was so well known.  Turns out ole Carl moved to Flat Rock as his last stop on the planet and wrote over 1/3 of his life's works there. 

The house was already there when the Sandburgs bought the property.  I missed the first part of the tour, so I don't know the whole back story of how they chose to come to NC.  Except that he did love the solitude and restoration that his property provided and would often sit out on a large granite rock behind the house to "dirty paper", as he called writing.

The site gets about 90,000 visits per year, but the ranger told me most of them are locals who come out just to enjoy the trails, lake, and other natural amenities on the property.  There is no admission charge except for the house tour, and the place is huge.  I ambled along a trail or two; the longest one circled the house at a lower level and was very muddy because of the rainfall that has been so far above average this year.

Fire pink, one of my favorite little wildflowers, along the trail.

Unknown to me was the fact that Mrs. Sandburg, Paula, was a champion breeder of champion goats.  Apparently Carl was quite proud of her work and made sure to "promote" her with the power of his own fame.  There is a room in the house entirely devoted to her record keeping on goat breeding which she apparently did with great attention to detail.  I believe the goal was producing goats who produced lots of milk.  One of her goats, Jennifer II, broke the world record in 1960 for producing 5,750 pounds of milk in one year. This is the goat barn, which is part of a big goat area and a draw for children visiting the site.  There are still descendents of her champion goats living on the property. 

A moment frozen in time.  Carl died in his bed at the house in 1967.  Paula was so heartbroken that she could not bear to stay in the house where they had lived and which was filled with all things Carl.  So she left the house and property just exactly as it was, donated it to the National Park Service, and walked out leaving all the furnishings, kitchen implements, books, etc. So the tour of the house is kind of amazing for someone who remembers the way things were in 1967.  This photo is from the goat record room so that is her typewriter, one among many in the house.  There were also Zenith's latest gadgets of the era in almost every room, since Carl was a friend of the president of Zenith.  I did not previously know that there was a Zenith remote controlled black and white television that worked on audio tones to change settings, but the Sandburgs had one in their dining room.

 

Closing with a quote from Sandburg, with which I can agree:
"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 ask of himself, 'Who am I, and where have I been, and where am I going?'"