Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Books & Such Central Valley, California Office
I returned from vacation only twenty hours ago and I’ve decided to extend my holiday frame of mind this week by talking about my favorite kind of travel — the literary pilgrimage.
There’s no denying it. We are book people. Yes, we are professionals who either work in the publishing industry or authors who publish in the industry. Or we are writers working toward being published—professionals all. But, truth be told, one only needs to scratch the surface to find the book enthusiast in all of us. I’m no different.
If you’ve observed an editor panel or an agent panel at a writer’s conference you probably noticed the somewhat detached professionalism until someone asks the question, “What’s the best book you’ve ever read?” Expressions change, everyone wants to jump in and the conversation becomes animated. We love books—plain and simple.
For me, reading a beloved book is often only the beginning. I find myself yearning to learn more about the author and the history surrounding the book. And even more, I long to experience the setting first hand.
A few weeks ago a group of friends gathered at our house for dinner. The talk turned to travel. Our pastor and his wife returned last year from a six-month sabbatical where they studied in the Middle East—following the travels of Paul through the Holy Land, Greece and Turkey. Other couples had also traveled through the Bible lands. When it came my turn to talk about travels, I had to laugh. Talk about priorities. I’d never been to the cradle of civilization but I had been to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s home, sat on Emily Dickenson’s porch at sunset, stayed in National Hawthorne’s springhouse, slept in Thomas Jefferson’s room in Williamsburg. . .
Just four days ago, I visited Anne of Green Gables’ beloved Prince Edward Island. We first went to the home of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s cousins– the inspiration for Silver Bush. We stopped for a glass of raspberry cordial before driving by the author’s birthplace. Then we went to the house that inspired Green Gables. If I were not throwing professionalism to the wind this week, I’d spend the rest of the blog talking about the importance of setting. Instead I’ll just share a few photos and admit that I was like Anne-girl herself, discovering the beauty of the Lake of Shining Waters and the eerie feeling of the Haunted Woods. Walking over to the barn made me wish I’d find Matthew inside milking the cow.
The rest of the week I’ll share other literary pilgrimages I’ve taken—some, the settings for favorite books, others the authors’ own environment. There are so many places I still long to visit—Mark Twain’s Hannibal, Missouri; The Laura Ingall’s Wilder Little House trail, Betsy, Tacy & Tib’s Deep Valley in Mankto, MN, Tasha Tudor’s home in Vermont, C. S. Lewis (and Dorothy L. Sayers, Lewis Carroll and Tolkien’s) stomping grounds at Oxford. . . I could go on and on.
My question for you is two-fold: If you’ve also taken a literary pilgrimage, tell us about it. And, if you could visit any literary destination, what would it be?
I’ve visited a Laura Ingals Wilder home and loved seeing the bed she slept in, her hat, Pa’s fiddle, etc. I also visited Hanibal Missouri and saw the home that inspired Tom Sawyer.
Which one would I like to visit next? Since I’m dying to go to England, I’ll choose C.S. Lewis. But since my husband is Canadian, Prince Edward Island is more likely. Your pictures are so lovely, makes me want to sweet talk my husband!
The trip to Prince Edward Island and Anne Gables home would have been the highlight of the trip for me.
I took my youngest daughter to the Little House on the Prairie Museum in Walnut Grove, MN this summer. We had such a wonderful time, just the two of us, and it was fun sharing the experience with her. It also brought a lot of memories back about the show that I remembered sharing with my own mother.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip to PEI with us! I went there years ago and loved every minute of it. The “Anne” books are near and dear to my heart and I would love to visit her again.
Several years ago, with a history class, I went to Ireland and got to see WB Yeat’s grave. It was such a peaceful atomosphere, the ancient tombstones, the misty, otherworldly atmosphere of the surrounding hills. I could just feel the fairy-folk of his poetry surrounding me.
If I could choose any author pilgrimage, I’d definitly go to Oxford and pay a visit to masters Tolkien and Lewis. Ah, to be in England 🙂
Jen
I’d go exactly where you went – Prince Edward Island. I’d also love to visit locations for C.S. Lewis and Jane Austen. Thank you for sharing your pictures.-Beautiful!
What a fantastic literary pilgramage! Thanks for sharing your pictures. That is certainly on my list. I loved Anne of Green Gables as a child.
I’m also interested in the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. And heading outside of Moscow to see about Mr. Tolstoy 🙂
I have always wanted to visit Monterey, CA–Steinbeck’s house, cannery row, all of it!
Luckily, I now have a brother living in Monterey, so there is even more reason to visit.
Whenever I hear or read advice that says cut all descriptive passages from your writing, I think of LM and the glorious pictures of PEI her words painted on the page. I reveled in them, and I’ve longed to visit Anne-with-an-E’s world ever since.
Wendy, thanks for departing the party line and loving what you love simply because you love it and not because someone said you should or shouldn’t. You make me happy.
I’d love to follow Elizabeth Gilbert’s steps through “Eat, Pray, Love”. That book was such an emotional journey for me, and the places she described were an important part of it.
Hey!
This isn’t literary, but I’ve been on the “Sound of Music” tour. And I’ve stood in front of the Globe Theater. Does that count?
I’d go to New Zealand to see the land in the film versions of LOTR and Narnia. Again, I know, not so literary. Hmm…
I’d probably go to some place Poe used to frequent. On an especially gloomy day! That’s all I have right now. This is definitely a question to ponder!
Wow. Great pictures. Thanks for sharing a little of your journey with us! I haven’t had the pleasure of much travel. I will live vicariously through pictures such as these.
Welcome home, Wendy!
I dream of visiting PEI one day. Thanks so much for sharing your photos.
I’ve been to Betsy, Tacy, & Tib’s Deep Valley in Mankato, MN. One of my greatest joys was to do a book signing in Tacy’s house. I’ll never forget it.
My husband and his four fellow Lord of the Rings fans,er, children, took me to New Zealand six years ago. The best selling book in New Zealand while we were there–which was when The Two Towers premiered–was Sites for Lord of the Rings, complete with GPS settings.
The NZ government had required Peter Jackson’s company to tear down all the sets they built, so you couldn’t actually see anything, but my husband waxed lyrical about how the atmosphere was the same–and since everything would have been destroyed by time anyway, it felt like visiting an historical spot.
It was fun seeing their joy. 🙂
Last year I had the opportunity to sit in the home of the grandson of Jack London’s sister and talk about Jack London with him and his wife. Their home is built smack in the middle of Jack London State Park and is filled with London artifacts and photos. What an enlightening time, with the views that London loved just out the window.
First is PEI and we have a trip planned as soon as we’re finally down to only one in college. I also want to wander around Shakespeare’s stomping grounds. Isn’t it great to know we’re not alone in our dream destinations?
An Elizabeth Peters fan, I would visit Egypt in hopes of seeing Amelia Peabody and her steel-framed parasol. 🙂
Happy to know you had a delightful time on PEI, Wendy. I’m a fan of Anne of Green Gables, too. Since my hubby is English, we go there often. I enjoyed my visit to the home and gardens of Rudyard Kipling at Bateman’s in East Sussex, Recently we visited Sissinghurst in Sussex, the home of Vita Sackville-West. I just love roaming the estates and gardens and letting my imagination take flight.
What a fun topic! I love to visit Gene Stratton-Porter’s state historic sites here in Indiana. They are in the process of restoring the wetlands in Geneva. The cabin at Sylvan Lake is so peaceful, still surrounded by the woods and gardens that Gene loved. It was the site of a chataqua in the early 1900s. If you have time before the ACFW conference in Indy next year, you should come visit!
Most people aren’t aware of Gene Stratton Porter’s contribution to American literature. She broke barriers as a woman in the publishing industry.
Sounds wonderful, Wendy! I have tromped around Israel and Egypt and spent a little time in Greece and Italy, which added layers to my appreciation for biblical lit and classical Greek and Roman lit. I have visited the Dostoyevski Memorial Museum and Flat in St. Petersburg, Russia. I’ve visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. I would love to do an Inklings sort of pilgrimage in the future.
I’m intrigued by the Amish, and I’ve polled Amish-fiction authors, trying to discover why these novels sell so well within the Christian market. They continue to sell. My curiosity about the Amish prompted me to take a weekend trip to Lancaster, PA. Hubby and I had a great time, and we’ll probably be returning sometime in the future! You can read about my trip on the following two blog posts:
http://ceceliadowdy.blogspot.com/2009/09/lancaster-county-pa.html
http://ceceliadowdy.blogspot.com/2009/09/lancaster-county-visit-part-ii.html
Ooo, Samantha. I’d go with you to Egypt and the Valley of the KIngs if you could guarantee I’d meet the Father of Curses. (Also an Elizabeth Peters fan.)
As I child I loved the Misty of Chincoteague books, by Marguerite Henry. How thrilled I was the summer my parents took us to stay on the islands for a few days, to watch the pony swim from Assateague Island, and the drive through town to the auction site.
Ooooh – I’d go to the Lake District to the home of Beatrix Potter and the land she donated to the National Trust. What an amazing woman! Apart from her delightful stories and well-known illustrations, she bred sheep and loved fungus (was an expert in both, actually) and did so much more than most women of her time.
wow! We could develop tour. I, too, want to visit Beatrix Potter’s home. Just to think one might run across a descendant of Peter Rabbit!
And, yes, I want to visit the attic where Anne Frank wrote h every thought to Kitty, her diary.
I’ll be talking about Gene Stratton Porter’s Limberlost this week.
And speaking of Steinbeck and Cannery Row, our next Books and Such Retreat is right on Cannery Row at the famed Monterey Plaza (Five-Star) Hotel, so a bunch of us will do this literary pilgrimage together. I can’t wait.
I sooo love the story of Anne Shirley and have a doll to remind me of it–and I have been looking forward to this report!
I have actually been to the Limberlost and Gene Stratton Porter’s home. In fact where I live is so much like it that it is well familiar to me each time I read her books.
I love this kind of talk and photos! Fun. Can’t wait to read more.
Just north of us in Pall Mall, TN is the home of Sgt. Alvin York, a true American hero from WWI. A little different than most posts but quite significant to our history and our freedom.
If you make arrangements beforehand, one of his brothers will give you a tour of the old home place!
And while we’re on pilgrimages of little known places in middle Tennessee (as opposed to Middle Earth) http://historicrugby.org/ is a ‘folly’ of Thomas Hughes… Now the thing of that is… if you take the tour, you will visit the library there – and well – I’ll let the website tell you – “Hughes Free Public Library – This library is virtually unchanged since it opened in 1882. Its diverse, 7000-volume collection was donated primarily by American publishers in honor of Hughes and represents the entire spectrum of reading tastes of the late Victorian period. The building is painted its original colors.”
Let me know when you’re coming. I’ll drive! 🙂
Touring the Hemmingway house in Key West was a wonderful stop on my 20th anniversary trip to the Keys. I loved standing at the window of the studio where he wrote and getting a glimpse of the place where masterpieces were written. A fabulous time even though the docent did scold my husband for peeking in the drawers of the breakfront in the dining room. Guess that goes beyond the bounds of literary curiosity. And for the record, there were beautifully embroidered orange table linens in there. 🙂
My mother went to PEI a month ago with a group from Christian Tours – for a 14 day trip. On the way up there, they all watched the Anne of Green Gables videos (so much so that one elderly gentleman started yelling, “where’s the blood and guts” each time they started the show). She enjoyed it so much.
I went on a literary pilgrimage in my 20’s to St. Simons Island, Ga. to see the places that Eugenia Price wrote about in Beloved Invader, New Moon Rising and Lighthouse. Climbing to the top of that lighthouse was one of the highlights – even though I’m afraid of heights. She made it so real.
Great topic!
Lisa and Crystal, I haven’t even thought of Gene Stratton-Porter for years. Keeper of the Bees was the first adult novel I read, and its theme (unwed pregnancy) was one I scratched my 10-year-old head over and decided it was too mysterious for me. But later I read Freckles and I was hooked.
I live in the middle of artistic and literary wonder in New Mexico, not too far from the D. H. Lawrence Ranch and Georgia O’Keefe’s Ghost Ranch. I once took a writing seminar at the Mabel Dodge Lujan House in Santa Fe from John Nichols and another class from Acoma Indian poet Simon Ortiz.
But since not everyone can go to a literary homestead, did you know you can bring an author’s ambiance — literally — to your own home? An organization called American Forests http://www.historictrees.org/store.html
has cuttings and seedlings from the trees that grew and in some cases are still growing near the homes of famous Americans. You can buy a cutting from the trees of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe, for instance.
Latayne C Scott
http://www.latayne.com
As a kid I always wanted to see where Laura Ingalls had lived, and as an adult a few years ago we took a trip outside of Branson and saw Rocky Ridge Farm.
I grew up traveling and even into adulthood, most trips included stops at the homes of famous people – everything from southern plantations to Hearst Castle to the Dodge Mansion to Stephen Foster’s birthplace. The fort at Mackinac Island isn’t a literary stopping ground, but I figure anything historical can spark imagination for story.
Our trip to Israel was my favorite. Now when I visit the lands of the Bible in my imagination, I have pictures to go with it. 🙂
Reading your post and the comments makes me want to travel to the library and read all those books again.
What an interesting post! I hadn’t thought much about it before, but in response to your question I counted up some of the literary sites I’ve visited, and there were quite a few: Louisa May Alcott’s house, Shakespeare’s home, the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum at Rocky Ridge, Hemingway’s residence, and the Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning museum which is one of the best-kept secrets of Baylor University in Waco, TX.
As for places I’d like to visit, top of the list (with PEI close behind) would be Shrewsbury, England–home of Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful pics!
Oops! Forgot about Corrie TenBoom’s house above her father’s clock shop. It looks just as she described it in The Hiding Place.
While I enjoyed my visit to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s home in Missouri, I’ve got to say my favorite literary pilgrimage took place a long time ago when I visited a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills… It was Africa distilled up through six thousand feet, like the strong refined essence of a continent.
It was Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen’s farm and it was where her pictures painted with words became a part of me.
My bucket list has lengthened significantly…
A couple of months ago I visited the Jack London state park and his Wolf House as well as the cottage he lived in while Wolf House was being built. I definitely felt like I was peeking into the life of a literary giant.
It’s interesting that you posted this because just the other day I was thinking how I would love to visit James Herriot’s Yorkshire and the area where All Creatures Great and Small and all his other works were set.
And while I’m there, I may as well visit some Jane Austen sites!
I also loved Elizabeth Gilbert’s descriptions of Italy in Eat, Pray, Love.
Thanks for a thought provoking post!
OOH, forgot to mention the Botswana of Alexander McCall Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. My husband was in South Africa a few years ago and got within eyeshot of Botswana. And the Edinburgh of Smith’s Sunday Philosphy Club would be a nice addition to Herriot’s Yorkshire…
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Such a lovely post! Your literary pilgrimage to Prince Edward Island sounds like a dream for any Anne of Green Gables fan. It’s wonderful to see how stories can inspire travel and connection to real places. Thanks for sharing this beautiful experience!