Serene and Peaceful

Cleaning up some folders, I came across some photographs taken and forgotten. One folder held some pictures of St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church.

When my daughter visited us in May, she and I took day trips to nearby areas. Both of us adore old graveyards and old churches with their cemeteries. It's not surprising that we would visit this church. St. John is a lovely, quiet, and serene place in nearby Flat Rock. Originally built in 1833 as a private chapel, the church is rich in history.

The church was racially integrated from the beginning with families and "servants" sitting together. In fact, the very first wedding ceremony performed at the church was between two slaves.

The cemetery surrounding the church is a wonderful place to roam and ponder. Three signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here, and many fallen soldiers of all our wars.

I could linger for hours in cemeteries, reading the epitaphs and admiring the art gracing the tombstones. This cemetery calls me back again and again and there are still areas I haven't walked.

I've never given a thought to the wording on my tombstone, but wouldn't it be wonderful to be remembered as "exceedingly beloved?"

Carl Sandburg Home

"It is necessary now and then for a man to go away by himself and experience loneliness; to sit on a rock in the forest and to ask of himself, 'Who am I, and where have I been, and where am I going?'"

Carl Sandburg

In 1945, Carl Sandburg's wife found a home in Flat Rock, NC, where she could raise goats and Carl Sandburg could write. The estate, already named Connemara, would be their home for the remainder of Carl Sandburg's life. Here he continued to write and publish, travel and lecture.

Connemara has an interesting history. It was built by Christopher Memminger around 1838. Memminger was the Secretary of the Treasury for the Confederate States of America. Who knew it would one day be owned by the biographer of Abraham Lincoln?

The estate was named Connemara by the second occupant, a wealthy textile baron Ellison Smyth. He thought the area resembled his native Ireland; hence the name Connemara. The Smyth heirs sold the land to Carl and Lilian Sandburg.

The Carl Sandburg Home is now owned by the National Park Service and is open to the public. Touring the grounds, hiking the trails, and visiting the goat herds are all free. There is a small charge for guided tours inside the home.


The house is on top of a hill, and at the bottom there is a lovely duck pond. (I did not see a single duck.)


Walking up the trail toward the house, we saw one of the pastures. The hay had been cut and rolled. The day was absolutely gorgeous with a "Carolina Blue" sky and large fluffy clouds.


There is a distant view of the mountains all around the hilltop where the house sits.


Lilian's flower garden is just outside the house. This is a small section of it. The gardens and fields are maintained in the manner they were when the Sandburgs lived there.


The vegetable garden is guarded by a scarecrow similar to the ones made by Lilian.

The estate is a wonderful place to see. Flat rock formations are visible among the trees. It was on one of these rocks that Sandburg often sat in the chairs and did his writing. There are easy hiking trails throughout the estate with benches and chairs scattered about. We go there often to enjoy the changing seasons, and (of course) to see the goats.



On the trail down the hill, I came across a tree which I called "Nature's Terrarium."

There are so many wonderful Sandburg quotes, many of them quite moving and profound. But this one seems particularly appropriate this time of year:

A politician should have three hats---one for throwing into the ring, one for talking through, and one for pulling rabbits out of if elected.

Lilian's Goats

Carl Sandburg, noted biographer of Lincoln, poet, lecturer and Pulitzer Prize-winning author was already famous when he moved to Flat Rock, NC. He and his wife Lilian lived on a farm in the Blue Ridge mountains for more than 2o years, until their deaths.

It was Lilian who found the farm, already named Connemara. She was searching for the ideal place, large enough for raising her prize-winning goats and sufficiently secluded for Sandburg's writing. Lilian Steichen had married Carl (then called Charles) Sandburg in Milwaukee, WI. Both were active members of the Wisconsin Social-Democratic Party, a party whose platform included uniform suffrage, free textbooks for schools, worker benefits, and child labor laws. They met at the Party headquarters.

While a writer and poet herself, Lilian's legacy was a prize-winning goat herd. She became famous in her own right for her goats which she started raising in Michigan. Seeking a better climate (as well as a place where Sandburg could write) she chose Western NC. She improved the herd and had a thriving milk and cheese business. She became well-known for her ability to genetically select and produce improved goats.

The goats living at Connemara today are descendents of the very goats that Lilian Sandburg raised. There are three types of goats: the Toggenburgs (which are tan and white); the Saanens (which are all white), and the Nubians (which are multi-colored with long, floppy ears). Guests are allowed to visit the goats in the pasture and barn. They are indeed wonderful creatures.

[No, I am not an expert on goats. The three types of goats are listed in brochures and pictures. In fact, I didn't even know that a female goat was a doe; I always thought "nanny goat" was the proper term.]

Here are some photographs of Lilian's goats. The kids are kept separately in the barnyard, while the adults are free to roam the pastures.

Carl Sandburg died in 1967, at home. Lilian died in 1977. The Sandburg family sold the farm to the National Park Service and donated all the contents of the home. Last year, additional acreage was purchased to preserve the quiet serenity of Connemara. The home, a National Historic Site is open to the public daily, except for Christmas Day.

Oh, and it won't be open to the public tomorrow afternoon. Laura Bush is coming for a visit. Funny, I didn't get my invitation. Must have been lost in the mail.