Traveling for literature!
Are you a reader like I am? Do you love books and literature? I do, and I enjoy traveling to places where writers, or their characters are from! Recently on a trip to Perryville, Missouri, we stopped on our way back at Chester, Illinois to see the Popeye Museum. I have a story telling all about the stop in the upcoming issue of Senior News & Times.
Chester, Illinois
The cartoonist, Elzie Crisler Segar, that penned the Popeye sagas was born in 1894 in Chester. In Chester, they have several Popeye cartoon statues including one of the spinach-eating sailor Popeye. The Popeye Museum is located downtown in the Spinach Can Collectibles shop where Mike and Debbie Brooks have their memorabilia on display.
Galesburg, Illinois
The birthplace home of Carl Sandburg itself is just a three-room cottage located at 331 East Third Street, in Galesburg, Illinois. The home is quite modest where Sandburg was born on January 5, 1878. In back of the house is a Quotation Walk that leads to the Remembrance Rock Park. Below the rock both Carl Sandburg and his wife Lilian’s ashes rest.
It is worthy to visit this site because Carl Sandburg is still a literary icon today, and he lived in the northwest central Illinois town of Galesburg!
Geneva, Indiana
Famous naturalist, photographer and children’s book author, Gene-Stratton Porter has a beautiful cabin the Limberlost State Historic Site. A naturalist and photographer, Gene’s cabin is in Geneva, Indiana in Jay County Geneva “Gene” Stratton-Porter became an author, studying the wonders of the Limberlost swamp that was then located in this area of the world. A woman ahead of her time, she studied the woods and animals. The former cabin and visitor’s center is now part of the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites system. During this visit I learned about her books that have sold millions and the woman behind the stories. Our guide Jeannie Akins told us that author J.K. Rowling listed her book, Girl of Limberlost as one of her favorite books.
Crawfordsville, Indiana
This famous General Lew Wallace, that wrote the story of Ben-Hur was so much more than just an author. Creating a beautiful “man cave” to write he was a true renaissance man. In his study we saw drawings, sculpture and paintings he created. He was a lawyer, author, and Civil War General credited with perhaps saving Washington DC during the Battle of Monocacy. After the War he was in charge of the Lincoln conspirator’s trial and headed up the trial for Henry Wirz, commandant of the notorious Andersonville Prison. Wallace resigned his commission on November 30, 1865, and was honorably discharged from the service.
In September 1878, President Rutherford Hayes appointed Wallace as Governor of the New Mexico Territory.
Danville, Iowa
Is there any book that touches the soul more than The Diary of Anne Frank? This young author’s story has reached people of all ages from all over the world. What is surprising though is her reach in the small town of Danville, Iowa. The Anne Frank Connection Museum. The Anne Frank Connection Museum is half library, half museum. The museum profiles the story of pen pals between two sisters in rural Iowa and amazingly, the Frank sisters, Anne and Margo!
The museum profiles the timeline from the 1920s up through 1945. It shows what was happening in the US, and primarily Danville, Iowa on one timeline. The other shows what was happening with the Frank family at the same time. At the close of the timeline, you walk through a door in the form of a bookcase. This is similar to the one that hid the Frank family all those years ago. It is uncanny to see this again and feel how the Frank family must have felt. After the Annex, the timeline continues after the war.
Muscatine, Iowa
While Hannibal, Missouri is the undisputed center of Mark Twain history, Muscatine, Iowa has a Mark Twain overlook that is quite lovely. Mark Twain remembered Muscatine fondly. In a marker at the Mark Twain Overlook there is a quote from him stating, “And I remember Muscatine still more pleasantly for its summer sunsets. I have never seen any on either side of the ocean that equaled them.”
It is believed that Mark Twain spent at least a few months living and working in Muscatine when he worked for the Muscatine Journal.
Key West, Florida
The works of Ernest Hemingway are still listed among literatures finest! When we got a chance to visit his beautiful home in Key West Florida, we didn’t hesitate. Born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois, Ernest Hemingway was one of six children. He graduated high school in 1916 and started working right away for the Kansas City Star. After six months, he volunteered as an ambulance driver in Italy during WWI. This was a dangerous job, and he was wounded, hit by mortar shell shrapnel while driving. The embedded shrapnel required several surgeries and a lengthy stay in the hospital in Milan.
In Missouri that he met wife number one, the heroine in the Paris Wife Hadley Richardson in 1921. The two fell in love, married, then moved to Paris where he was a correspondent for the Toronto Star. It was in Paris that Hadley Richardson introduced Hemingway to Pauline Pfeiffer. Daughter of a wealthy Arkansas landowner, Pauline was a writer for Vogue’s Paris bureau. He divorced Hadley, then the two married in 1927 and returned to the states in 1928. After a few years of renting, they acquired their home in Key West, which was a wedding present from Pauline’s Uncle Gus Pffeifer.
The home still has many original furnishings. In Key West, Hemingway and his writing flourished until he met and married wife number 3.
Solvang, California.
Who doesn’t love fairytales? In this Danish town, although Hans Christian Andersen was never there, there is a wonderful statue of the famous writer, and a Hans Christian Andersen museum! Located in the upstairs of the Ugly Duckling Bookstore, the museum shares Andersen’s story. Hans Christian Andersen was born in 1805 and left his hometown of Odense at 14 to “become famous”. The museum brochure states that he tried his hand at many literary forms then in 1835 he began to publish his fairy tales. “Andersen never surpassed these fairy tales with their subtle narrative style. Behind the straightforward meaning easily understood by children, there are deeper ones meant for adults. It was to this naïve and direct approach that he owed his world fame; anyone anywhere could and can understand him. Of all the writers of this world, Andersen is the only one to be read everywhere.”
Another cool Hans Christian Andersen stop is also in Kimballton, Iowa. We found the Hans Christian Andersen Little Mermaid & Sculpture Garden which has been on display since 1978. It is a replica of the famous statue in Copenhagen, Denmark! There are eight more sculptures created by Troy J. Muller added in 2013. Each sculpture depicts Andersen’s most famous fairy tales.
When we saw this statue, it was decorated for the holiday season!
With so many authors and stories, these are just a few of the literary stops we have found along the way. Where have you been to celebrate literature?
