Sandburg Home Grounds Tour

Illustrated map of park grounds

NPS Photo

Carl Sandburg and his family moved to the property known as "Connemara" in 1945. This grounds tour will help you explore the landscape and structures as the Sandburg family and previous residents used them. As you explore the buildings and grounds you will get a sense of the history of this place, its productivity, and the creativity it has inspired.

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Stop 1 - The Sandburg Home (Main House)

Image of Sandburg Home

NPS Photo

Sandburg stood on the porch of his new home in Flat Rock, NC, and declared, "We didn’t just buy two-hundred and forty-five acres when we bought Connemara, we bought a million acres of sky! They also found at Connemara a writer’s sanctuary and the perfect farm for dairy goats.

• Front Porch

  
  

  Listen to an audio narration of the Front Porch
  Audio Transcript

  Carl Sandburg stood on the porch of his new home in Flat Rock, NC, and declared, "We didn’t just buy two-hundred and forty-five acres when we bought Connemara, we bought a million acres of sky! They also found at Connemara a writer’s sanctuary and the perfect farm for dairy goats.

  As you tour the house you will note that the Sandburg family lived casually. Simplicity was the rule as indicated by the functional furnishings.

  Sandburg followed this philosophy throughout his life, having written to his soon-to-be wife Lilian in 1908, “All the big people are simple, as simple as the unexplored wilderness. They love the universal things that are free to everybody. Light and air and food and love and some work are enough. In the varying phases of these cheap and common things, the great lives have found their joy.”

  Connemara provided them all these things; mountain air, gardens and orchards full of vegetables and fruit, plenty of work, and the love of a family.

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Stop 2 - House Garage

• House Garage

  
  

  Listen to narration about the House Garage
  Audio Transcript

  From 1838 until 1945 this was the kitchen for residents of Connemara. The Sandburg's modernized the main house with an interior kitchen and converted this building into a three-car garage. Today the interior is used for special events and programs.

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Stop 3 - Chicken House

• Chicken House

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Chicken House
  Audio Transcript

  Constructed in the 1840's the first owner of this property, Christopher Memminger, housed enslaved persons in this building while he lived here in the summers. Living near the main house they likely helped with domestic tasks of cooking and cleaning, however little is known about these early enslaved workers.

  The second owner, Ellison Smyth installed large wash tubs in 1924 and called it the "wash house".

  In modern times, Mrs. Sandburg used the left side of the building for chickens and the right side for young goats.

  Sandburg's granddaughter, Paula Steichen discusses how the family used the building.

  "It was used first for chickens, and then we used it primarily for baby kids that we raised after the kids were old enough to be moved from in the basement of our house, we would take them out there. The kids of course were separated from the does as soon as they were born so they had to be kept in separate quarters."

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Stop 4 - Pump House

• The Pump House

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Pumphouse
  Audio Transcript

  From the 1830s until the 1980's this building provided water for the early residents and even park visitors to Connemara. A reservoir located near the top of Glassy Mountain provided the water supply. A pump in this building then sent water to the house, the pond in front of the house and down to the barn.

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Stop 5 - Spring House

• Spring House Combined

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Spring House
  Audio Transcript

  Cool water from a mountain reservoir flowed through the spring house providing a perfect place for Mrs. Sandburg and her daughter Helga to store and cure cheeses made from goat's milk.

  Listen to the audio for a description of the cheeses cured here from Mrs. Sandburg's granddaughter Paula Steichen.

  "Then we had a little cheese house on the…if you continue on the Memminger path, where my grandmother and mother did make the most wonderful cheeses of all different sorts and flavored them with anise seeds and with all number of herbs. My mother actually wrote an article called “Making Goat Cheese” for the dairy goat journal I believe it was."

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Stop 6 - Woodshed

• The Wood Shed

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Woodshed
  Audio Transcript

  In addition to storing wood for the fireplaces, the Sandburg's stored older farm equipment here including a poultry feeder, a baby chick house, cream seperator, plows, mowers and unused building materials.

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Stop 7 - Greenhouse and Garden

• The Greenhouse

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Greenhouse
  Audio Transcript

  Built in 1873 this building served originally as a root cellar. The Sandburg's used the greenhouse side to start plants for the flower gardens and occasionally stored bulbs in its cellar.

  Adjacent to the greenhouse, the Sandburg's cleared up to an acre for a vegetable garden. The garden provided much of their own food for the year through canning, drying and preservation. Still used each year to pant a variety of vegetables, this garden retains a strong association with its past.

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Stop 8 - Goat Sheds

• The Goat Sheds

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Goat Sheds
  Audio Transcript

  Mrs. Sandburg used these sheds when goats were ill and needed to be isolated from the main herd. The shed on the right was also sometimes referred to as the "breeding shed" as goats would be brought here in the fall for breeding. Today only one shed is in use and it houses the bucks (boy goats). The bucks are separated from the does once they reach four to six months old to prevent unplanned breeding.

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Stop 9 - Corn Crib

• The Corn Crib

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Corn Crib
  Audio Transcript

  Constructed in 1923 this corn crib originally stored corn grown on the farm and fed to the livestock raised by second owner Ellison Smyth. The Sandburg's stored various farm equipment here and today garden tools are stored inside.

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Stop 10 - Goat Barn

• The Goat Barn

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Goat Barn
  Audio Transcript

  The goat barn sheltered the does (girl goats) at Connemara. Mrs. Sandburg operated a successfull dairy, selling milk from the farm to dairies in Asheville and Greenville. Many of the farm's goats won top awards at state and local fairs. Jennifer II, a Toggenburg dairy goat, was internationally recognized as the top producing Toggenburg in the world in 1960.

  Mrs. Sandburg helped establish the American Dairy Goat Association, located in Spindale, NC, and was its Director for over ten years. She was honored with a lifetime directorship. A legend in the dairy goat industry, Mrs. Paula Sandburg was a champion of champions.

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Stop 11 - Milk House

• The Milk House

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Milk House
  Audio Transcript

  The Sandburg's built the milk house in 1948 to process and bottle milk for sale on the farm. Pipes run from the milking parlor inside the barn into the milk house to be strained and separated before bottling. Quart-size cardboard bottles were affixed with "Connemara Farms" caps and sold to local dairies and individuals.

  After mandatory pasteurization laws were passed in the early 1950's, Mrs. Sandburg no longer sold milk directly, but collected the milk in large containers to be sold to larger dairies for pasteurization and distribution.

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Stop 12 - Horse Barn

• The Horse Barn

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Horse Barn
  Audio Transcript

  The grandchildren, Paula and John Carl each had a horse to ride through the pastures and along the many trails throughout the property. This building housed their horses, saddles and tack. Work horses for plowing were also kept here.

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Stop 13 & 14 - Cow and Storage Sheds

• The Cow, Chicken and Storage Shed

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Cow, Chicken and Storage Shed
  Audio Transcript

  The Sandburg's kept a family milk cow in this shed and sawdust for the goat barn in the storage shed behind it.

  Today the cow shed is used to care for chickens of similar breeds to those Mrs. Sandburg raised. The Sandburg chickens were housed in a building up the road by the main house. Saw dust for the goat barn is still stored in the shed behind it.

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Stop 15 - Buck Kid Quarters

• The Buck Kid Quarters

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Buck Kid Quarters
  Audio Transcript

  Mrs. Sandburg housed her young buck kids in this building and adjacent play yard until they were old enough to join the older bucks or be shipped off to other dairy goat farms.

  Today the park uses this building and play yard in the spring for does and their new kids. Later in the summer, once the buck kids reach four to six months old they are separated from the herd and housed here until they are large enough to join older bucks across the road or are sold to another farm.

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Stop 16 - Barn Garage

• The Barn Garage

  
  

  Listen to a narration about the Barn Garage
  Audio Transcript

  The Sandburg's stored farm equipment including the farm tractor and jeep in this building. Occasionally the equipment was removed for evening square dances, including a group known as the Connemara Farm Dancers.

  Listen to the audio to hear Sandburg's granddaughter Paula Steichen talk about the square dances held here.

  "The garage at the barn was often used for square dances on Saturday nights. When we had a caretaker Frank Mintz for quite a time who was part of a dancing group, a mountain dancing group, and we would have square dances, he would really hold the square dances there, and sometimes members of the family would go down. I know that Frank Mintz’s group for a while wore the shirts that said Chickaming Goat Herd on them."

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Stop 19 - Farm Managers House

• The Farm Manager's House

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Farm Managers house
  Audio Transcript

  This residence was constructed around 1915 to serve as the home for Smyth's farm caretaker and his family. The Sandburg's continued this use when they hired Frank Mintz in 1946 to tend Connemara Farms. He helped by feeding, milking and breeding the goats, plowing the fields and making repairs to buildings.

  In the 1960's Leroy Levi moved in with his family to serve as farm manager. Today the house is used as a residence for temporary employees and in the spring for the Carl Sandburg Writer-in-Residence.

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Stop 21 - Swedish House

• The Swedish House

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Swedish House
  Audio Transcript

  This building housed the servants of the first two owners. Carl Sandburg later named it the "Swedish House" because of the scalloped fascia and used it as an overflow library for magazines and books.

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Stop 22 - Tenant House

• The Tenant House

  
  

  Listen to narration about the Tenant House
  Audio Transcript

  Built around 1910, this "little white house" was a residence for farm assisstants, chauffers and family guests of the Smyth family. During Sandburg's time it was occasionally used as a residence for farm employees or as a studio for Helga Sandburg's painting.

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Stop 25 - Margaret's Garden and Gazebo

• Margaret's Garden and Gazebo

  
  

  Listen to narration about Margaret's Garden and Gazebo
  Audio Transcript

  The Sandburg's oldest daughter Margaret cared for this "wild, overgrown, and beautiful" fenced garden of roses, peonies and perennials. She used the gazebo to store her garden tools.

Stop 26 - Rock Outcrop Behind Sandburg Home

Rock Outcrop behind the Main House

• Rock Outcrop

  
  

  Listen to an audio about the Rock Outcrop
  Audio Transcript

  This large, exposed rock was a favorite location for Carl Sandburg to bring a chair and orange crate for an outdoors study. He enjoyed the quiet and peacefulness of this location to edit his work. Exposed rocks like this are located throughout the area and have a long history of use going back to the first peoples to settle the area we know today as Flat Rock.

  This area’s dynamic and ecologically abundant landscape supplied generations of Native Americans a place to develop extensive cultural traditions related to kinship, religion, trade, art, and diverse use of abundant natural resources. Over millennia, these traditions evolved, adapting to environmental and social changes.Take a moment to pause here and reflect on the legacy of this land! These mountains are clothed in a lush hardwood forest teeming with birds, wildlife and an abundance of native berries, nuts, fruit, and flowers.

  Long ago, native peoples such as Cherokee, Cheraw, and Catawba thrived on this rich abundance.While villages were in outlying areas, these large “flat rocks” near the border of North and South Carolina, were noted as places for traders, pioneers, and settlers to barter goods with the native people. With increased European expansion, the Indian Removal Act of 1838 forced native people to leave their homelands and their ancestral lands were confiscated.

  This removal was devastating, and many thousands perished on what is tragically remembered as the Trail of Tears. Today descendants of these early Cherokee people embrace their rich ancestry and culture and call these mountains home again in Cherokee, NC. Learn more about the Trail of Tears.