Photo Tour of William Faulkner Home Place: Rowan Oak, Part One

Oxford Town Square

After an interval of several years, I was lucky enough this summer to be able to stop by Rowan Oak in Oxford, Mississippi.  Rowan Oak, originally built in 1844, was purchased in 1929 and remained in the Faulkner family for over 40 years until sold in 1972 by Jill Faulkner Summers to the University of Mississippi.

Rowan Oak is a fascinating place for fans of Faulkner's writing to spend several hours wandering on their own.  The grounds of the home are well maintained by Ole Miss, and for a small entrance fee to get inside the home, it is possible to get an accurate feel for the life that Faulkner and his family enjoyed here.   Personal items (including clothing, furniture, books, etc.) are still sitting in the separate bedrooms of the house and, perhaps most intriguing of all, the wallpaper on which Faulkner outlined A Fable is still on the wall of his study.

These are some of the exterior photos I took that day, with pictures from inside the house to follow in Part Two:

 Click on individual photos to see full-size, high resolution versions of each.