It's Friday, which means it's time to wind down the week with another summer travel article. (Though, I have a feeling that between riots in the U.S. and bombings in the Middle East, this weekend news cycle will be anything but calm. Of course, we'll try to cover all of that for you, too, so if you do take a little summer vacation, make sure you check in at least once or twice!)
You guys seemed to enjoy my lists of top beaches last week, but I did hear from some folks who aren't beach people, so I decided to do something a little different this week. We talked about scenic road trips in the past, but what about road trips with a theme? I know a lot of y'all are readers and/or simply enjoy history — I'm the same way on both counts — so I came up with a list of road trip ideas that take you to some of the cool historic literary sites in the United States.
These trips include the homes of famous authors, museums, bookstores, and the places that inspired or were mentioned in famous literary works. It's also subjective and definitely not definitive. I actually ended up cutting my original list in half because this got to be so long.
Maybe if this one goes over well, I'll do a part two?
Anyway, this list includes some of my favorites, and some of my colleagues here at PJM inspired me with some ideas of their own. That said, let's get to the road trips!
1. Atlanta to Savannah, Ga. (Margaret Mitchell, Flannery O'Connor, John Berendt, and Chris Queen)
As a lifelong Georgia girl, this one is my favorite (our editor Chris Queen helped me come up with it, which may become apparent shortly). I've been to most of these places many times and will visit them again, I'm sure.
Start in Atlanta with a visit to the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum. It's the home where Mitchell wrote her famous novel "Gone With the Wind," and its exhibits explore "the life and times of Margaret Mitchell, her experience in Atlanta, and her research process," as well as the "cultural phenomena resulting from the movie’s popularity."
From there, take the six-mile drive down to Southwest Atlanta to the Wren's Nest, the historic home of author and journalist Joel Chandler Harris, who is most famous for his Uncle Remus and "Brer Rabbit stories. The beautiful home is now a museum, and you can take guided tours and hear live versions of Harris' stories.
If you're a big "Gone With the Wind" fan like me, I also recommend taking the 20 or so mile drive northwest to Marietta, Ga., a major Atlanta suburb, and visiting the "Gone With the Wind" Museum at Brumby Hall. It's located in a beautiful historic home and filled with memorabilia from the book and movie, as well as a nice gift shop.
After you get your fill of Atlanta, you can take the 90-mile trip southwest to Milledgeville, Ga. Milledgeville is a college town, but it's filled with some of the most beautiful antebellum-era homes you'll ever see. It's also home to Andalusia, the home of the great Flannery O'Connor.
Next, take the two-to-three-hour drive from Milledgeville to Savannah. If you're a big O'Connor fan, you can visit her childhood home, which has been turned into a museum. However, one thing I like to do in Savannah is visit the places that played a role in the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." (If you haven't read the book, do that first. You might also watch the movie, but the book is much better.)
Be sure to include the Mercer Williams House Museum (the historic home where the murder in the book took place) and Bonaventure Cemetery, which played a role in the book, but is also just a really cool place to visit. I also recommend stopping in for a meal at Clary's Cafe, which is also featured in the book, and scenes from the movie were even filmed there. They have great food and even better people watching.
And if you get a wild hair and want to see the neon cross that inspired our editor's hit memoir "Neon Crosses," you can add a little side trip to Commerce, Ga., to your trip. The town is about an hour and a half east of Atlanta, just north of my former college town, Athens, and the cross in question is, according to Chris, "on 441, just south of the city" at the Baptist Tabernacle.
2. A Few Days in Key West (Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, and Judy Blume)
It's hard to think of Key West without thinking of Ernest Hemingway, so you might consider just spending a few days in the southernmost city in the United States and checking out all things Hemingway.
The Hemingway House and Museum, with its six-toed cats and beautiful gardens, is the most well-known of these locations. After that tour, stop by Sloppy Joe's, the iconic and historic bar with its own Hemingway connection. If you prefer guided tours, there's actually a cool Hemingway Walking Tour you can do that takes you around the city and shows you some of the other places that had an impact on the author's life. If you're into nature, take some time while you're down in the Keys to visit Bahia Honda State Park, another one of Hemingway's favorite spots.
But Key West isn't just about Hemingway. Another one of its most famous residents was Tennessee Williams, and there's a Tennessee Williams Museum that you can visit. You can also stop by Books & Books, a local nonprofit independent bookstore that was largely started thanks to the help of Key West resident and author Judy Blume.
3. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Midwestern Road Trip
This is a part of the country I'm not as familiar with, but before my mom died, she and I wanted to take a trip to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home & Museum in Mansfield, Mo. We never made it, but I hope to do it in her honor one day, and I'm learning there are so many other cool places you can visit related to the author's life and stories.
I'm not going to lay out the route. Tracy Mumford does a great job of that here on the Minnesota Public Radio website, but I'll touch on some of the attractions you can include.
This trip starts in Pepin, Wis., where Wilder was born, and where you can visit a replica log cabin of the place where her life began. The town is also home to a museum, and if you visit in September, you can take part in the annual Laura Ingalls Wilder Days festival.
Along the way, you'll stop in Independence, Kan.; Walnut Grove, Minn.; Burr Oak, Iowa; DeSmet, S.D.; and Spring Valley, Minn. All of these locations seem to take pride in being a part of Wilder's life and you'll find historic sites, museums, and other unique tributes along the way.
4. New York City to Tarrytown, N.Y. (Book Stores, Museums, and Washington Irving)
This idea was inspired, in part, by our own Catherine Salgado, who recently visited Washington Irving's home in Tarrytown, N.Y., but more on that in a minute.
Love it or hate it, New York City is a haven for literary locations, but for this particular trip, I recommend you stop there and visit some of the city's iconic bookstores and museums. These include:
- The Strand bookstore: A nearly century-old bookstore that offers "18 miles of books," including the super rare.
- The Morgan Library & Museum: What began as the personal library of Pierpont Morgan is now a museum with a cafe, restaurant, gift shop, galleries, a garden, rare collections, and more.
- Central Park's Literary Walk: Located at the southern end of the Mall, you can view statues of famous literary figures from history.
- White Horse Tavern: Be sure to stop by the White Horse Tavern for a bite to eat and a taste of history. The second-oldest bar in NYC was a favorite among writers like Dylan Thomas, James Baldwin, and Jack Kerouac.
From New York City, drive about 30 miles north to Tarrytown, N.Y., which is home to Washington Irving's Sunnyside, the former home to the country's first "internationally-famous" author. As I said, Catherine visited recently, and here's what she had to say about it:
Irving’s home Sunnyside is on a beautiful piece of property overlooking the Hudson, and it was fascinating how Irving designed the house to be not one particular style, but more like something out of a folk tale or fairytale, like a cottage in one of his own fantasy stories. And the house is close to the old Dutch cemetery where the Headless Horseman rode, according to legend, with many Revolutionary war soldiers and names Irving used in his stories buried there (as well as Irving himself), so it was like seeing the influences and characters from his books crystallize in reality.
Honestly, that sounds so cool. I'm going to have to make a point to do this one myself in the not-too-distant future.
So, what do you think? If you guys like this idea, I'll be glad to do a part two with the rest of my list (I had eight originally). Or if you've taken some similar trips in the past, I'd love to hear about them in the comments.
P.S. Keep in mind that some of these places, especially those up north, keep seasonal hours. Have a great weekend!
