The Biltmore House is not the only historical home and grounds of note near Asheville. The estate known as Connemara served as the home for Carl Sandburg and his family from 1945 until his death in 1967. Today, the estate is national property and open to the public for education, recreation, and inspiration.
If you’ve never visited Connemara, we recommend the trip! From a historical tour of the home to miles of hiking trails to a visit with the goats, there’s something fun for everyone in the family. Here are a few fun facts to wet your whistle:
1. Connemara is a region in Ireland.
The term “Connemara” derives from a tribal name of natives of County Galway in Ireland, located along the sea (“mara”). What does this have to do with the American-born poet of Swedish ancestry? Nothing, really. The Greek Revival estate in Flat Rock, NC traces its foundation back to 1838, when Christopher Memminger of Charleston built a summer estate he called “Rock Hill.” In 1900, Captain Ellison Adger Smyth bought the home and changed its name to “Connemara” after his ancestral home. The Sandburgs kept the name when they bought it in 1945.
2. The Sandburgs purchased Connemara to raise goats.
If you like petting baby goats, the Carl Sandburg House is for you. Today’s herd is descended from the original, award-winning goats raised by Sandburg’s wife, Lilian Steichen, whom he called Paula. After years of moving around the Midwest, Carl and Paula and their two daughters settled at Connemara in 1945. The 246-acre rural estate offered plenty of room for Lilian’s goats. Baby goat season still attracts many visitors to the estate each year.
3. Bob Dylan once visited Sandburg at his home.
Bob Dylan, author of the experimental beat tome Tarantula, 2016 Nobel Prize winner in Literature, and one of the highest regarded songwriters of the 20th century, paid a visit to Sandburg in 1964, well before he was a national name. Reports say Dylan wanted to share his music with the aging poet and fellow folk musician, but Sandburg was not overly impressed with the young man. This was the same year Dylan debuted on “The Steve Allen Show” to critical acclaim. We wonder what Sandburg would have thought of him in a few more years.
4. Sandburg’s home is now a national historic site and park.
After Carl Sandburg’s death in 1967, Paula gave her support to state efforts to transform the home and its contents into a national park. Opened in 1974, The Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site includes the vast lands of the property, as well as the equally vast collection of historical and cultural records. One of the largest of its kind in the Southeast, the collection includes more than 325,000 letters, maps, motion pictures, photographs, sound recordings, telegrams, and 12,000 volumes of the Sandburgs’ library.
5. Connemara continues to inspire local authors.
Carl Sandburg wrote a third of his professional output while living at Connemara. Today, the national site continues to inspire authors like Mark de Castrique, who grew up in the mountains of Western North Carolina. De Castrique, an author and university professor now living in Charlotte, used Connemara as the backdrop of The Sandburg Connection. The novel is the third murder mystery novel in his Sam Blackman series.
Are you interested in learning more about Carl Sandburg and his impact on literature and Americana? Join us for an AVL Lit Tour of downtown Asheville!
Book your tour today!
Photo by Blue Ridge National Heritage Area