"Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site" by NPS / Victoria Stauffenberg , public domain
Carl Sandburg Home
National Historic Site - North Carolina
Sandburg Home National Historic Site, located near Hendersonville in the village of Flat Rock, North Carolina, preserves Connemara, the home of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and writer Carl Sandburg. Though a Midwesterner, Sandburg and his family moved to this home in 1945 for the peace and solitude required for his writing and the more than 30 acres (120,000 m2) of pastureland required for his wife, Lilian, to raise her champion dairy goats.
The 264-acre site includes the Sandburg residence, the goat farm, sheds, rolling pastures, mountainside woods, 5 miles (8 km) of hiking trails on moderate to steep terrain, two small lakes, several ponds, flower and vegetable gardens, and an apple orchard.
Official Visitor Map of Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail (NHT) in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia. Published by the U.S. National Park Service (NPS).
Official Visitor Map of Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site (NHS) in North Carolina. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
https://www.nps.gov/carl/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sandburg_Home_National_Historic_Site
Sandburg Home National Historic Site, located near Hendersonville in the village of Flat Rock, North Carolina, preserves Connemara, the home of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and writer Carl Sandburg. Though a Midwesterner, Sandburg and his family moved to this home in 1945 for the peace and solitude required for his writing and the more than 30 acres (120,000 m2) of pastureland required for his wife, Lilian, to raise her champion dairy goats.
The 264-acre site includes the Sandburg residence, the goat farm, sheds, rolling pastures, mountainside woods, 5 miles (8 km) of hiking trails on moderate to steep terrain, two small lakes, several ponds, flower and vegetable gardens, and an apple orchard.
“I make it clear why I write as I do and why other poets write as they do. After hundreds of experiments I decided to go my own way in style and see what would happen.” Carl Sandburg's free verse style of poetry, journalism, biography, children's stories, prose writing, and social activism provided a popular voice for the American people of the twentieth century.
The park is located three miles south of Hendersonville, NC on Little River Road off of the Greenville Highway/Rt. 225 in Flat Rock, NC. Visitors using GPS or mapping software should use 1800 Little River Road and look for the signs directing you to the main visitor parking lot off Little River Road. To access the Hikers Parking lot, use 81 Carl Sandburg Lane as the GPS address. You will see signs for the Hiker's parking lot, on the left, just before Carl Sandburg Lane.
Visitor Center/Park Store and Information
The Sandburg Home Visitor Center/Park Store and Tours are open Saturday and Sunday (2 days a week) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Hours vary by season; the Holiday closures below will change by season. The visitor center/park store and information area is a great place to start your visit! You can find information to plan your visit, get a passport stamp, participate in the Jr Ranger or BARK Ranger programs, and get a schedule of upcoming events.
The park is located three miles south of Hendersonville, NC on Little River Road off of the Greenville Highway/Rt. 225 in Flat Rock, NC. Visitors using GPS or mapping software should use 1800 Little River Road and look for the signs directing you to the main visitor parking lot on Little River Road.
Carl Sandburg Home NHS
A view of the Sandburg Home as visitors enter the park
The Sandburg family enjoyed living in the Carolina mountains along with a collection of 12,000 books and a herd of dairy goats.
Visitor Entrance to Carl Sandburg Home NHS
A view of the front lake and Sandburg Home as visitors enter the park
A view of the front lake and Sandburg Home as visitors enter the park
Connemara Farms
Dairy goats graze peacefully near the Sandburg barn
Connemara Farms dairy goats graze peacefully near the Sandburg barn
Carl Sandburg's Study
A view of Sandburg's study as visitors see it today
A view of Sandburg's study as visitors see it today
Kid Goats Greet Visitors
Spring-born kid goats greet visitors to the barn
Spring-born kid goats greet visitors to the barn.
Hiking Trails in the Park
Two visitors enjoy a stroll through the trees on a park trail
Visitors can enjoy more than five miles of hiking trails through the park.
NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, North Carolina
Each park-specific page in the NPS Geodiversity Atlas provides basic information on the significant geologic features and processes occurring in the park. Links to products from Baseline Geologic and Soil Resources Inventories provide access to maps and reports. [Site Under Development]
house on a grassy hill surrounded by trees
Literary Landscapes: Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site
Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site was the first national park unit created to honor the life and works of an American poet. Carl Sandburg and his wife Lilian left Michigan for the mountains of North Carolina in 1945. In his 22 years on the rural property, Sandburg wrote prolifically, hiked in the surrounding woods, walked through meadows, and tended to their farm. His attention to daily life in the American landscape still resonates, seen in his words and his home.
Goats trot through an opening in a fence, over short grass in front of farm buildings
3 Ways to Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act
July 18, 2018, we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a special piece of legislation that curbed the drastic decline of birds in North America.
A bald eagle gliding over the Chesapeake Bay.
2019 NPS Environmental Achievement Awards
Since 2002, the National Park Service (NPS) has awarded Environmental Achievement (EA) Awards to recognize staff and partners in the area of environmental preservation, protection and stewardship.
Sandburg Family Holiday Recipes
A Sandburg family holiday was full of cheer with wreaths made from waxy Galax leaves, Christmas trees picked right out of the Connemara woods, and Lilian Sandburg’s famous old-fashioned fruit cake and other dishes. Throughout Mrs. Sandburg's cookbooks are a few hand-written recipes, likely adaptations of family favorites or recipes handed down through her family. Explore her recipes for fruitcake, pickles, crescent roles and more.
Open recipe book with a recipe for fruit cake.
Be a Sandburg Home Rootabaga Junior Ranger
If you are unable to plan a visit to the park, you can still join in Junior Ranger fun! We've recorded a portion of our popular summer "Rootabaga Stories" plays for you to watch. After you watch the video, complete the activities and print your own Junior Rootabaga badge.
Image of gold badge with words Junior Ranger Carl Sandburg Home NHS
Sandburg Home B.A.R.K. Ranger
Become a Sandburg Home BARK Ranger to learn how to have a "pawsitive" experience with your pet on public trails.
A black and white dog wearing a BARK Ranger tag
Series: National Park Service Geodiversity Atlas
The servicewide Geodiversity Atlas provides information on <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/geoheritage-conservation.htm">geoheritage</a> and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/geodiversity.htm">geodiversity</a> resources and values all across the National Park System to support science-based management and education. The <a href="https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1088/index.htm">NPS Geologic Resources Division</a> and many parks work with National and International <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/park-geology.htm">geoconservation</a> communities to ensure that NPS abiotic resources are managed using the highest standards and best practices available.
park scene mountains
Series: NPS Environmental Achievement Awards
Since 2002, the National Park Service (NPS) has awarded Environmental Achievement (EA) Awards to recognize staff and partners in the area of environmental preservation, protection and stewardship.
A vehicle charges at an Electric Vehicle charging station at Thomas Edison National Historical Park
Be a Sandburg Home Junior Ranger
Learn about Carl Sandburg, poetry, goats and more when you participate in the site's Junior Ranger program. Junior Rangers simply visit the park store and request a free booklet, or can download a booklet to complete at home.
colorful line drawing illustration of the Sandburg Home, barn and goats
Sandburg Home Grounds Tour
Beyond the Sandburg Home and barn are a variety of buildings located throughout the park landscape. Follow the trail of buildings and lean more about how the Sandburg family and previous owners used these places.
Illustrated map of the park showing building outlines and names
Black History at Rock Hill/Connemara
Though Carl Sandburg Home NHS is devoted to preserving the legacy of 20th century writer and social activist Carl Sandburg, this place, also known as Rock Hill and later Connemara, was built in the 1800s partially through the labor of enslaved Africans. After emancipation, black workers became employees at Rock Hill and Connemara, caring for children, cleaning the household, and caring for the grounds and property. This article explores their contribution to this place.
black and white image of six black workers standing in front of a wooden building circa 1910
What Six Girls with Balloons Told the Gray Man on Horseback
A story from Carl Sandburg's stories for children titled "Rootabaga Stories"
Black and white illustration of six girls with balloons tied to hair braids
The White Horse Girl and the Blue Wind Boy
A story from Carl Sandburg's stories for children titled "Rootabaga Stories"
Black and white sketch of a boy walking on the wind
Virtual Tour of Sandburg Home
This is a virtual tour with 360 images of the inside of the Sandburg Home. Visitors can only explore the home in person while on a guided tour. Carl Sandburg and his family lived here for 22 years from 1945-1967. Learn about the home, how the Sandburg family lived here and the story of love and success they all shared.
View of pasture and trees from the Sandburg Home porch
Sandburg's Hobo Journey
Follow Carl Sandburg's hobo journey, beginning in his hometown of Galesburg, Illinois and ending in Omaha, Nebraska. Visit the cities below to learn about Sandburg's time riding the rails.
Sepia toned vintage railroad map from 1900
Japanese American Incarcerees Sponsored by Carl Sandburg
As a journalist for the Chicago Daily Times, Carl Sandburg voiced his support for Nisei, American born citizen of Japanese ancestry. Through the War Relocation Authority office in Chicago, his wife Lilian Sandburg advertised positions for a secretary and a farm hand to work at their home in Herbert, MI. These positions would provide Sunao Imoto and Kaye Miyamoto with employment and a sponsor so they could leave the internment camps.
A man and woman work in an office setting together
Carl Sandburg and Music
Carl Sandburg spent years interviewing musicians and singers, documenting their songs, including folk, gospel, jazz and blues. He published a book titled “The American Songbag" and said it was "a ragbag of strips, stripes, and streaks of color from nearly all ends of the earth. The melodies and verses presented here are from diverse regions, from varied human characters and communities, and each is sung differently in different places.”
black and white image of Carl Sandburg sitting, playing a guitar
Carl Sandburg's Abraham Lincoln Address
Read the speech Carl Sandburg presented to a Joint Session of Congress on February 2, 1959 honoring Abraham Lincoln.
Black and white photo of one man at a desk with microphone while two men sit at desk in background
Published Works by Carl Sandburg
A list of the published works of Carl Sandburg.
Carl Sandburg, the Biographer of Lincoln
Carl Sandburg started out writing a Lincoln book for children. That idea kept growing into what would become a 6 volume detailed biography of Abraham Lincoln, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize for the effort in 1940.
image of 11 book spines
Carl Sandburg: The People Yes
The People, Yes, an epic prose-poem, is in many ways the culmination of Sandburg’s work as a poet and is believed by Lilian Sandburg to be his favorite work. He crafted it over an eight-year period, fusing the American vernacular with the details of history and contemporary events
Sandburg Poetry Collection: Smoke and Steel
Sandburg published Smoke and Steel in 1920, revealing and celebrating the bustle and beauty of cities and the dreams, struggles and tragedies of "The People".
Establishing Carl Sandburg Home NHS
Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site was established on October 17, 1968 to preserve the legacy of Carl Sandburg; An American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, author, journalist, biographer, storyteller, and musicologist.
image of the front of large white home with covered porch surrounded by green trees and shrubs
Sandburg: Civil War and Civil Rights
Discover Carl Sandburg's relationship to the Civil War and to Civil Rights. Born more than a decade after the Civil War ended, growing up in Galesburg exposed Sandburg to Civil War history. His own immigrant experience and early life led him to believe that economic inequality was the root cause of all social strife and he used his words to illuminate this human condition.
Carl Sandburg Poetry Collection: Child Labor
Sandburg's poetry and prose offers bold, realistic portraits of working class and social concerns such as child labor.
Carl Sandburg Poetry Collection: Seasonal Poetry
Sandburg found inspiration in the world of man and nature. His gift of observations and reflections on nature are explored through his seasonal poetry
Write-Out Poetry Prompt-Who am I?
Join Park Ranger Ginger, as she explores the writing inspirations of Carl Sandburg. He was a journalist, poet, novelist, biographer and autobiographer. A frequent question he asked himself was "Who am I? Where have I been? Where am I going?" Use these questions to write a short story or poem answering them for yourself.
Write Out Poetry Prompt- Who Am I?
Join Park Ranger Ginger, as she explores the writing inspirations of Carl Sandburg. He was a journalist, poet, novelist, biographer, and autobiographer. A frequent question he asked himself was "Who am I?, Where have I been? Where am I going?" Use these questions to write a short story or poem answering them for yourself.
image of notebook and writing pen
Helga Sandburg Crile
Youngest of the Sandburg children Helga Sandburg Crile was integral to the dairy goat operation at Connemara farms. She had numerous other interests and hobbies, and had two children: John Carl and Paula.
Carl Sandburg and Chicago Poems
The beginning of Carl Sandburg's poetic journey. Turn of the century Chicago provided inspirations for Sandburg's earliest works and the title for his first published book of poetry - Chicago Poems. His Chicago poetry celebrated and consoled people in their environments— the crush of the city, the enduring solace of the prairie.
Image of the chicago skyline overlaid with text from Chicago poem
Three Boys With Jugs of Molasses and Secret Ambitions
A story from Carl Sandburg's collection titled "Rootabaga Stories."
black and white drawing of three boys with their feet stuck in puddles of molasses
Intern and Fellow Highlights: Madison “Madi” Duran
You may have heard of cultural resources, but what exactly does this work entail and what type of work do interns and fellows do? Meet Madison “Madi” Duran (she/her), who is the American Conservation Experience (ACE) Museum Collections Intern at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site.
Madi holding one of our first baby goats of the season at CARL