WHO ARE YOU CARL SANDBURG?

 A series of essays.....

A TRUE LOVE STORY: CARL AND LILIAN SANDBURG 
Photographed by Edward Steichen, Brother of Lilian 

.....From a letter to his wife in 1908:

" I would rather be a poem like you than write poems.  I would rather embody the big things as you do than carve or paint or write them.  You inspire art....and that's living!"





.....as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E. Hughes



Recently, a thirty-something and I were discussing my travels up to North Carolina a few weeks back when she asked me, "Now, exactly who is Carl Sandburg?  I know I've heard of him in school but, I can't place who he is or what he's done?!?"

Did I bristle at this lack of recall?  Well, maybe just a little.  The truth is.....the question had been posed and I was more than willing to fill-in the blanks!

It all began when we saw, yet again, along Highway 26, just south of Hendersonville, North Carolina, the sign reading, 'Carl Sandburg Home, National Historic Site.'  "Please tell me why we see this sign going up to Maggie Valley but never take the time to stop?" I seriously asked my husband.  "I truthfully don't know," Dan replied.  "Maybe we will on the way back home this Sunday if we leave right after breakfast."  Sounded good to me!

Carl Sandburg

Robert Frost

Growing-up learning to love literature and poetry as much as I do, two tousled, gray-haired gentlemen, authors by trade, have always guided me down a path of awakening and simple joy via their passion and love of the written word.  Thinking back now, I believe that Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg epitomized the quintessential 'Grandfather' figure for me as I was voraciously reading, reading, reading everything written by them in order to satiate my lust for poetry and prose. 

Both men were still alive in my early lifetime and each worked hard as a teacher and a journalist, a farmer and a factory worker, as they struggled to make ends meet, and continued to write and contribute their works to the world for all to enjoy.  Physically, I believe, these distinguished men resembled one another as the years progressed giving them an uncanny feeling of 'brothers' in a literal and symbolical sense. 

Seven Pulitzer Prize awards are shared by these 'Literary Brothers' with Robert Lee Frost earning four within the years 1924 to 1943 for his poetry collections.  Carl August Sandburg achieved three awards from 1919 to 1951.  Two Pulitzers were awarded for his collections of poetry, The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg and Corn Huskers.  In 1940 he won the Pulitzer Prize for History for his biography of Abraham Lincoln entitled (Abraham Lincoln: The War Years).

A strong Michigan connection can be attributed to both men, as well. In 1921 Frost accepted a fellowship teaching post at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he resided until 1927 when he returned to teach at Amherst. While teaching at the University of Michigan, he was awarded a lifetime appointment at the University as a Fellow in Letters.  The Robert Frost Ann Arbor home was purchased by The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan and relocated to the museum's Greenfield Village site for public tours. 

Stollaway Cottage in Harbert, Michigan

Carl Sandburg and his wife, Lilian Steichen, purchased a home in Harbert, Michigan, located in Berrien County, where they lived with their three daughters, Margaret, Helga and Janet along the beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline.  Carl Sandburg Library first opened in Livonia, Michigan, on December 10, 1961. The name was recommended by the Library Commission as an example of an American author representing the best of literature of the Midwest. Carl Sandburg had taught at the University of Michigan for a time.




Sandburg Family

Eventually, the Sandburg family claimed that the Midwest's cold winter temps and the lack of owning enough property for Lilian to raise her prize-winning milk goats for the making and selling of domestic goat cheese brought them to a small slice of heaven in the North Carolina town of Flat Rock. 

Connemara With Family Home Off In The Distance

Having just parked the car and now luxuriating in the early October sunshine of this beautiful late Sunday morning, we walked down the small, stone path leading to the Sandburg home.  Affectionately called 'Connemara' due to the rolling green hills surrounding the main structures, there were ponds, trails and wide-open spaces scattered among the over two-hundred acre estate.  After crossing a bridge spanning a large pond, we enjoyed a short, tree-lined walk up to the main house.  "Shall we take the half-an-hour tour of the house?" I asked, knowing that our time was limited.  "I think we can do it," my husband graciously replied.  He knew this meant so much to me.




Our Docent, James

Our docent, James, was a treasure, making us laugh, answering our questions and enabling us to immerse ourselves in the amazing history behind the four walls, as well as intimately discovering the colorful people who lived, loved and thrived within them.  He allowed our little group to see and understand that real people had celebrated birthdays and holidays here; read the newspaper while sipping their coffee; laughed and cried in good times and bad.  When you are asked to 'Support America's National Parks,' people like James make it easy to do so!






Mishmash Room

Looking into one of the upstairs rooms, I discovered a mishmash of stacked boxes, filled bookshelves living on the floor and furniture pieces in disarray.  James told us that even though the family slept in the remaining four bedrooms upstairs, this room still housed most of the Michigan items brought here from their home in Harbert that Lilian failed to unpack.  "You wouldn't find a room like this at Biltmore," he said, grinning at me.  "This place, for now, is the 'real deal.'  You are among the final few to see this place as it exactly was when the Sandburg family resided here.  Next month it will be completely packed-up and everything stored in order to allow workmen to repair and restore the structure.  We are looking at reopening mid-2015, if we're lucky."

I knew it.....I knew it!  This visit was meant to be! 






This is where he wrote....!!!!!

Enjoying the luxury of taking pictures in every room of the house, I was able to capture its ageless spirit!  We stood one thin, swagging rope line away from everything!  I heard the giddy girl I felt like that day saying things like, "He sat on that chair and typed on those keys!" and, "This is the guitar and piano he composed his music on!" or, running my hand gently along the multitude of books on shelves in any given room in the house, "These are the volumes he collected and read!"  The essence of his being infused within the hardwoods of each floorboard he walked on seeped up and into my soul and enlightened me with each step I took.  I was truly a writer in a 'candy store' of endless possibilities, hopes and dreams.



Sandburg Formal Living Room



Our small group crowded into one of the last rooms we were to learn about on our tour that day.  Located on the ground floor and incorporating a beautiful bay window seating area and a lavender area rug sprinkled with a Spring flower motif, was the room Carl Sandburg had passed away in.  The year was 1967, July 22 to be exact.  He had lived 89 years among us and 'represented the best of literature of the Midwest,'......of the world, in my lifetime.  It was the summer between my junior and senior year of high school.  I stood in this room a few extra minutes letting everything sink in.

Lilian's Handbag

Books Everywhere!

"Thank you for finally stopping in Flat Rock," I told Dan as we climbed back into our car for the seven hour drive to Orlando.  "Wouldn't have missed it for the world, Kiddo!" he said smiling at me. 

Doing a bit of research on the Sandburg cottage located in Harbert, Michigan, I discovered that the family lived there from 1928 until 1945.  During their time in this beautiful home overlooking Lake Michigan, Sandburg wrote many of his poems, as well as his two-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln. 

Today the Sandburg Cottage is a rental resort called The Stollaway and the listing companies, HomeAway and VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner), decidedly omit any mention of the cottage's historical import within the description of the property.  I am sure they have their reasons.  I wonder how many of the world-wide travelers enjoying the property each glorious Michigan summer are aware of its historical and literary importance?! 

Kitchen At Connemara Home

Thank goodness Lilian Sandburg was determined to preserve her husband's legacy and home in Flat Rock, North Carolina!  Following his death in 1967, she gave her support to North Carolina Congressman Roy Taylor and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall in authorizing the Carl Sandburg Home as a National Park. The park was officially authorized on October 17, 1968 and the property was sold with its contents and cultural resources donated to the park service. The site officially opened in 1974.

Who are you, Carl Sandburg?  This is how I would answer this question:

You are the echo of the typewriter keys clicking away morning, noon and night.....The shadow behind the birch tree high up in the mountains just waiting for the right moment to emerge.....The spirit of my beautiful Chicago, the crystal blue Lake Michigan shoreline and the majestic, purple mist shrouding the Smoky Mountain ridge lines off in the distance.  You are my past, present and future and the Grandfather I wish I had known.  You are my mentor...my guide into the world I find so fascinating and most compelling.

Many thanks to both yourself and Mr. Frost for always being here for me.....





Connemara Mountainside Home

View From Front Porch

Copyright © 2014 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
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