Connemara, the Carl Sandburg home is one of our favorite local trips. The grounds are lovely in all seasons and there are great hiking trails and points of interest. But in Spring it's all about the kids. That is what draws us there in April. This year we were not disappointed.
Carl Sandburg's wife was an award-winning goat breeder, and generations of offspring from her original herd still live at Connemara. You can read more about the Sandburgs and the home which is now a National Park here.
One of the new kids on the block
Still nursing, but the kids already nibble on grass
The farm cat doing what farm cats do
The little kids huddle together despite the warm weather.
Their mothers were in the meadow right then.
The males are kept separate from the females. The brown one seems to be the alpha.
He re-directed this one for no apparent reason other than that he could.
It is humbling to stand in places where the Pulitzer Prize winning author walked and lived and wrote. He lived at Connemara for 22 years and died there in 1967. His wife Lilian was determined that his home in Flat Rock should be preserved in perpetuity and the site officially opened as a National Park in 1974.
The Golden Girls loved the trails at Connemara even though they could not be off lead. Here they are taking a rest in April of 2012. Princess Lucy is, of course on top of the stump.
9 comments:
Connemara is so amazing -- a fly in amber. Ever the stuff in the wastebaskets is preserved as it was.
And I too love the Nubians!
I love how the barn cat relaxes. So r-e-l-a-x-e-d.
Aw, you make me miss my goats. What entertainers they are.
That sounds like a place I would enjoy.
I can't believe we never visited the whole time we lived in the area. Once I even had a boyfriend from Texas who specifically wanted to go there & I didn't join him. What was I thinking? (Maybe that's why we didn't really work out - ha!)
I love the pile of kids!
Dogs are not allowed off the pavement in any of the western Nat Parks we've gone to. Not even on-leash. It's very disappointing. I'm glad your girls enjoyed the trails there.
What a wonderful place! I had no idea Carl Sandburg had a goat farm. We love goats! We pass a goat farm every time drive into town, and it is ALWAYS the highlight of our journey. I'm going to follow the links and read more about this place. Wonderful!
I love goats. We have a local man that breeds them, I often walk by just to take a look over his gate :)
It is so lovely to see the golden girls together....I miss Fridays are golden but I am sure in my heart not as much as you do.
Tku for sharing your trip with us.
How neat. I was unfamiliar with this place though I thought we had visited his home in Illinois... maybe birthplace? We love watching the goats and kids across the road from our front porch. As I've said before we love to watch them and its far more entertaining than anything on TV these days...:)
Thanks for your comments, everyone.
Vicki - Yes, it's almost as if Sandburg himself might appear.
Cheryl - Yes, we miss Ellie every single time we take a walk or hike.
Troutbirder - Sandburg lived his last 22 years in NC. His ashes and those of his wife are buried at his childhood home in Galesburg Illinois.
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