Do you yearn to visit the homes of famous writers and poets? You’re in luck. Some of the greatest literary classics were written in the Northeastern USA. Twain, Poe, Melville, and even, yes, the bane of High School SAT-takers, Noah Webster, all found their muse in this region.
Are you or a loved one a dyed in the wool bibliophile? Check out the following Great Touchstones and Homes of Famous Writers to see and tour. And then organize a literary weekend getaway by clicking on each town link for advice on where to eat and stay for a complete mini-vacation.
Where to find the Best Bookstores and Libraries? The Mavens break it down for you.
Tour These Homes of Famous Writers In The Northeast US
CONNECTICUT Homes of Famous Writers
Mark Twain Home – West Hartford CT (Home Tour)
While living at the in Hartford from 1874-1891, Twain wrote most of his best known books: Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and several others. A tour of the 11,500 square foot Mark Twain House takes you through many of the 25 rooms. Along the way, learn about the joys and tragedies in Twain’s life. Plus, why he might have been considered Best Dad Ever to his three beloved daughters. Wife, Olivia, nicknamed Twain, “Youth,” because he always acted like a kid. Twain called his darling wife “Gravity,” as she kept his feet on the ground. Click Here for MORE TO DO IN HARTFORD.
Harriet Beecher Stowe Home and Center – West Hartford CT (Home Tour)
Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain were neighbors in Connecticut’s State Capitol. As author of the best selling book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe was incredibly famous in her time, and remains so. President Abraham Lincoln checked out her following book, The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, from the Presidential Library as he was writing the Emancipation Proclamation. It was rumoured that he said, upon meeting her, “”So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” Tour her home and the adjacent Stowe Center for Literary Activism. More in Hartford CT.
Noah Webster Home – West Hartford CT (Home Tour)
Not many people realize that Noah Webster was one of the USA’s Founding Fathers. A man before his time, Noah Webster stated the need for a free and universal education system, championed women’s rights, and called for the end of slavery, which he wrote, “dishonors a free government.” Webster standardized the American vernacular to divorce it from British spelling and pronunciation, and in doing so, unified the American people in a bond of common language. Read more in this Hartford CT post.
Eugene O’Neill, Mounte Cristo Cottage – New London CT (Home Tour)
Eugene O’Neill’s father, James, purchased this summer home, Monte Cristo Cottage, with funds earned by starring in and buying the rights to the stage version of The Count of Monte Cristo. It was also where Eugene spent his boyhood summers. Visitors familiar with one of O’Neill’s most famous play, “Long Days Journey Into Night” will recognize the parlor, set exactly as it is on stage and screen. MORE TO DO IN NEW LONDON.
MAINE
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Home – Portland ME (Home Tour)
When Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s younger sister, Anne, passed away in 1901, she left the house and all of its contents – from three generations of Wadsworth-Longfellow’s – to the Maine Historical Society. Though the words became a jazz standard, it was Longfellow who actually penned, Into each life, some rain must fall. Anne stipulated that the Society’s library be built on the property. And so it was. The library still remains separate from the historic Wadsworth-Longfellow House, which you can now tour. MORE TO DO IN PORTLAND ME.
MASSACHUSETTS
Edith Wharton, The Mount – Lenox MA (Home Tour)
Edith Wharton, author of The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, and The House of Mirth, was the first woman awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. This was, of course, at a time when society women were expected to marry and oversee the home. Wharton did oversee the home. Oh yes she did. The design and building of her own, The Mount, in 1902 based on the principles detailed in her influential book, The Decoration of Houses (1897). MORE TO DO IN BERKSHIRES.
Herman Melville, Arrowhead – Pittsfield MA (Home Tour)
Herman Melville wrote his masterpiece, Moby Dick, and other books, while living at Arrowhead – his small bright yellow house far from any sea. It is now owned and managed by the Berkshire County Historical Society and open for tours in warmer months. MORE TO DO IN BERKSHIRES.
Emily Dickinson House – Amherst MA (Home Tour)
Dickinson lived most of her life (and spent most of her time) within the walls and gardens of this home in Amherst. By age she 30 expressed, “I do not cross my Father’s grounds to go to any house or town.” However, she did make short appearances in the parlor during Amherst’s “social event of the year” – the Amherst College Commencement Teas – hosted by her father, Edward, a founder of the school. Enter the Emily Dickinson Home and Museum to feel the spirit of one of America’s greatest poets. MORE TO DO IN AMHERST.
Louisa May Alcott, Orchard House – Concord MA (Home Tour)
Fans of “Little Women,” published in 1868, thrill to a tour of the home where the Alcotts lived from 1858-1877. Orchard House has remained structurally sound, and nearly 80% of the furnishings are original to the family.
Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne – Concord MA (Home Tours)
Alcott had plenty of literary company in a town most associated with “The Shot Heard Around the War” and America’s Revolutionary War. Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne all lived – and are buried in – Concord as well. Check this post for more to do in Concord MA.
Ted Geisel – aka Dr. Seuss – Springfield MA (Touchstone)
Ted Geisel aka Dr. Seuss, was raised in Springfield MA. His father, as Superintendent of Parks, oversaw Springfield’s Forest Park Zoo. It tracks. Although Geisel’s home is not open for tours, his two step-daughters and nephew recreated his studio and living room in the new-ish Dr. Seuss Museum, the newest museum on the Springfield Quadrangle. Here’s more to do in Springfield MA.
Mark Twain’s Handwritten Speech – Fairhaven MA (Touchstone)
Town benefactor, Standard Oil partner Henry Huttleston Rogers, was Mark Twain’s confidant and patron. Huttleston Rogers funded several grand buildings in the small town of Fairhaven MA, including the High School, Millicent Library, and Town Hall – where Twain gave the dedication speech. Now, Twain’s handwritten Town Hall Dedication speech is on full display in Millicent Library. More Fairhaven MA here.
Herman Melville’s Moby Dick Connection – New Bedford MA (Touchstone)
Check out the Seaman’s Bethel, immortalized by Herman Melville in his famous tome, Moby Dick. New Bedford MA Things to Do.
Nathaniel Hawthorn, House of 7 Gables – Salem MA (Home Tour)
Nathaniel Hawthorne did not live here, but he often visited his cousin who did. These visits informed his classic book, The House of the Seven Gables. Hawthorne’s home (from birth to 4 years old) was originally down the street but transported to Seven Gables property as part of the museum complex. Kids love the secret staircase, and literary types might enjoy a bit of Hawthorne Witch Trial history. More to do in Salem MA.
NEW YORK
Mark Twain Study- on the campus of Elmira College – Elmira NY (Touchstone)
Mark Twain’s spirit permeates this little college town of Elmira. Twain’s wife, Olivia, was from Elmira. The family spent summers in that part of upstate NY. Now, Twain’s unique stand-alone study sits on the grounds of Elmira College. And you can also visit his family plot nearby.
Step right in the place where America’s best humor writer and social critic did much of his thinking, writing, and cigar smoking. In fact, he wrote much of his Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in Twain’s gazebo-like study on the campus of Elmira College. Twain’s in-laws built this structure so he could write and smoke his smelly cigars while visiting them. It was moved to this college campus after the writer’s death. MORE TO DO IN ELMIRA.
Mark Twain, Huck Finn Handwritten Manuscript – Buffalo NY (Touchstone)
Incredibly, Mark Twain’s original handwritten Huckleberry Finn manuscript ended up at the Buffalo Public Library. It’s on exhibit, in the Mark Twain Room, for all to see. For free! More to do in Buffalo NY.
Washington Irving, Sunnyside – Tarrytown NY (Home Tour)
Washington Irving, named after our nation’s first president, was born in New York City and lived in England as a young man. He was the first American “celebrity” writer, and the first to make a living completely from his books. These, of course, included the iconic Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. Sunnyside was the only home that the author, then in his mid-40’s, ever owned. Called “America’s Cottage” by the press, the house became almost as famous as Irving was. With its ivy-wreathed portico and gingerbread hued exterior, “The Snuggery,” as Irving called it, puts one in mind of a fairy-tale cottage. Costumed docents lead you through the home and property where Irving lived out the last years of his life. MORE TO DO IN TARRYTOWN.
PENNSYLVANIA
Rosenbach Museum and Library – Bram Stokers Dracula Notes, Melville, Joyce, Dickens First Editions, Philadelphia PA (Touchstone/Museum)
The Rosenbach Museum and Library contains Bram Stoker’s original notes for Dracula, and first editions by Melville, James Joyce, Dickens, Lewis Carroll, Robert Burns, Jane Austin and hundreds of other authors. This place is a book-lovers utopia. Plus, on select days, you get to handle the rarest gems. Learn more in this Philly Arts and Letters post.
James Michener – Bucks County PA (Touchstone/Museum)
James Michener was by all accounts “dirt poor” growing up here. There’s a room dedicated to his life and works in the Michener Art Museum that he funded, and that bears his name. Learn more in this Bucks County PA post.
RHODE ISLAND
Edgar Allan Poe Connection – Providence RI (Touchstone)
Yes, it seems that Edgar Allan Poe has been everywhere. (He was raised in Richmond VA, died in Baltimore MD, and lived all over the Northeast, apparently). In Rhode Island, he courted Sara Helen Whitman in the stacks of the beautiful Providence Athenaeum, where you can follow in their footsteps.
VERMONT
Robert Frost Stone House Museum and Gravesite – Shaftsbury and Bennington VT (Home Tour)
The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep. Robert Frost lived in this Shaftsbury Vermont Stone House for nine years and sleeps eternally in Bennington VT. More to do in Bennington VT.
Rudyard Kipling, Naulakha – Dummerston VT, Near Brattleboro (Home Stay)
Here’s a rarity. Yes, Naulakha was the American home of famous British author, Rudyard Kipling. But rather than merely tour the property, you can rent it through The Landmark Trust USA, and STAY overnight or longer in his 4-bedroom home. Big Benefit: as much of Kipling’s furniture remains, you can sit at the very desk where he wrote The Jungle Book, Captains Courageous, and portions of the Just So Stories. Near Brattleboro VT.
VIRGINIA
Edgar Allan Poe Museum – Richmond VA (Touchstone/Museum)
At age one, Edgar Poe was taken to Richmond VA by his sickly mother. The prominent Allan family adopted him after her death. Though he lived in many places on the Eastern Seaboard, Poe considered Richmond his home. Visit one of the best Poe Museums in the country here. More to do in Richmond VA.
Thank you Eddie!