Pieces of Carl Sandburg's Homestead

While we were in Flat Rock, NC this past weekend, we also visited poet and people-activist Carl Sandburg's home.

It sits on almost 300 acres of lush mountainous land.

You can walk as much of the premises as you want.

We met people there who live nearby and come to the property for a daily hike.

You can hike mountain trails that take you to various lookout points, where I imagine Ole' Carl went to write some of his poems. Do you know his poetry?


I haven't read a lot of Sandburg's poetry, but one of his poems I like is:


On the Way

Little one, you have been buzzing in the books,

Flittering in the newspapers and drinking beer with lawyers



And amid the educated men of the clubs you have been getting an earful of speech from trained tongues.




Take an earful from me once, go with me on a hike



Along sand stretches on the great inland sea here




And while the eastern breeze blows on us and the restless surge




Of the lake waves on the breakwater breaks with an ever fresh monotone,





Let us ask ourselves: What is truth? What do you or I know?
How much do the wisest of the world’s men know about where the massed human
procession is going?




You have heard the mob laughed at?



I ask you: Is not the mob rough as the mountains are rough?
And all things human rise from the mob and relapse and rise again as rain to the sea?

What do you think about that poem?

Its structure, tones, words, and message?

More on The Sandburgs:

Read an intriguing article about Carl and Lillian Sandburg's love story here.

Read about 200 of Carl Sandburg's poems here.

Lillian Sandburg, Carl's wife and mother of his three children, raised hundreds of goats on the farm. She believed that goat milk was good for those with dairy-related health issues.

Read more about Lillian's goats here,

if you are interested in goats and such.

Today, you can pet the goats still living on the farm.

They are actually descendants of Lillian's prize goats.