November 2010

The house itself was built by Whitman's father and contains nineteenth century furnishings and unusual architecture. Exhibits at the Interpretive Center include 130 Whitman portraits, original letters, manuscripts, artifacts, Whitman's voice on tape, and a schoolmaster's desk.

Victoria Mansion, also known as the Morse-Libby House, is the finest example of residential design from the pre-Civil War era in America. With superb architecture and well-preserved original interiors that were among the most lavish and sophisticated in their day, it is an unparalleled document of America’s highest aspirations in architecture, interior design, and the decorative arts. Victoria Mansion has operated continuously as a museum for over sixty years, and today the organization remains committed to the preservation and interpretation of the Morse-Libby House.

Within its walls lived three generations of one remarkable family that made significant contributions to the political, literary, and cultural life of New England and the United States. General Peleg Wadsworth built the house in 1785–1786, and the last person to live there was Anne Longfellow Pierce, Henry's younger sister.

Virtually all of the household items and artifacts are original to the Wadsworth and Longfellow families. Furnishings from the three generations illustrate changes in style, technology, and attitude over the 19th century. Peleg and Elizabeth Wadsworth raised ten children in the house before retiring to the family farm in Hiram, Maine, in 1807. The only single–family residence to survive downtown Congress Street's change from a mixed commercial and residential neighborhood on the edge of town to an urban business district, it is the oldest standing structure on the Portland peninsula.

Purchased in 1789 by Ebenezer Snell, Bryant's grandfather, the Homestead and its surrounding countryside inspired much of young Bryant's poetry such as "The Rivulet" and "To A Waterfowl." Bryant's family sold the Homestead in 1835. However, thirty years later Bryant re-purchased it as a summer retreat and converted it from a center-stair colonial to a Victorian cottage. The house collection includes colonial and Victorian pieces from the Bryant and Snell families and memorabilia collected on his extensive travels to Europe and Asia. He added an ell to the barn to store apples and pears from his orchards. Bryant's pastoral estate encompasses 195 acres, largely unchanged for more than 150 years. The maple tree allee planted by the Bryant family, the old growth forest on the Rivulet Trail, and the sugar bush used by Bryant and his brothers contain trees that are almost 200 years old.

On the front porch of this Queen Anne Victorian home, Joel Chandler Harris penned many of the Brer Rabbit tales.

Atlanta's oldest house museum, Wren's Nest was the home of author Joel Chandler Harris from 1881 to 1908. The house was named after the wrens that made a nest in the mailbox. Today the home features most of the Harris family’s original furniture and belongings. Harris’ wife kept the author’s bedroom intact after his death, and it remains untouched to this day, aside from dusting and the occasional changing of the bed linens.

Harris’ fame as a result of the popularity of the Brer Rabbit tales made him a reluctant celebrity in his day. Harris was second in literary fame only to his good friend and admirer Mark Twain. Theodore Roosevelt visited the home during his trip to Atlanta, and his gift to Harris, a stuffed owl, can still be seen looking down on the family’s library.

This classical revival house represents the only full expression we have of Wharton's architectural interests. The Mount is an autobiographical house. Every aspect of the estate –including its gardens, architecture, and interior design – evokes the spirit of its creator. The house is the only U.S. monument to Edith Wharton, and one of the mere 5% of National Historic Landmarks dedicated to women.

Sidney Lanier was born here at his grandparents' home on February 3, 1842, and tragically died only 39 years later on September 7, 1881. He died in the mountains of North Carolina, desperately attempting to recover from the fatal tuberculosis he contracted at a northern prison camp. In his short life he became a nationally known poet, highly talented musician, a soldier, teacher, lawyer, linguist, mathematician, naturalist, college lecturer, and author. The Cottage furnishings reflect Lanier’s birth period, all authentic antiques from the mid 19th century. The wall, window, and floor treatments are all reproductions, but the original 1840 pine floorboards are still intact.The cottage also contains Lanier artifacts and memorabilia.

Writer Sarah Orne Jewett spent much of her life in this stately Georgian residence, owned by her family since 1819.

The view from her desk in the second-floor hall surveys the town's major intersection and provided her with material for her books, such as The Country of the Pointed Firs, which describe the character of the Maine countryside and seacoast with accuracy and affection. In decorating the house for their own use, Miss Jewett and her sister expressed both a pride in their family's past and their own independent, sophisticated tastes. The result is an eclectic blend of 18th-century architecture, antiques, and old wallpapers with furnishings showing the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Rowan Oak was the family home of the Faulkners for over 40 years. Faulkner had been fascinated with the house's history, knowing it had been built by a Colonel Sheegog from Tennessee who settled in Oxford when it was a tiny frontier settlement in the 1840's. He optioned the surrounding acreage and settled in with his family. The author lived here until he died, with his funeral held in the Parlor Room of the house.

The grounds surrounding Rowan Oak include forest, pastures, landscaping and gardens, as well as several outbuildings. Some of these features are original to the 1840's layout of the property while others were added during Faulkner's time.

The Museum's treasures include manuscripts for such outstanding literary works as James Joyce's Ulysses, Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers, and Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim, fine 18th- and 19th-century British and American furniture, items associated with important authors, including Herman Melville's bookcase and Nathaniel Hawthorne's personal copy of Melville's Moby Dick, the world's largest collection of portrait miniatures painted in oil on metal, a selection of John Tenniel's original illustrations for Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, the only surviving example of the first printing of Yankee Doodle, a complete recreation—with the original contents—of poet Marianne Moore's Greenwich Village living room, and over 10,000 drawings and manuscripts by acclaimed children's book author/illustrator Maurice Sendak.