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    Carl Sandburg Home, Connemara, The
    Carl Sandburg Home, Connemara, The
    Carl Sandburg Home, Connemara, The
    Ebook190 pages1 hour

    Carl Sandburg Home, Connemara, The

    By Galen Reuther

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    About this ebook

    The story of North Carolina’s Carl Sandburg Home, “Connemara,” began in the early 19th century when Christopher Gustavus Memminger, noted lawyer and first secretary of the Confederate treasury, built “Rock Hill” as his summer home. After Memminger’s death, the property was owned by William Gregg Jr., son of textile giant William Gregg, and later by Ellison Adger Smyth, dean of the Southern textile industry, who renamed it Connemara. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Carl Sandburg and his family purchased the property in 1945 and then lived there for 22 years. Connemara is a National Historic Site run by the National Park Service. It welcomes over 100,000 guests per year to tour, learn, and enjoy the house, barns, and hiking trails.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439617359
    Carl Sandburg Home, Connemara, The
    Author

    Galen Reuther

    This is the third Images of America title for author Galen Reuther. In this volume, she tells the story of the Carl Sandburg Home with images dating from the 1800s. In addition to photographs and information obtained from individuals, the author was privileged to have access to the Carl Sandburg Home archives, personal collections of the Memminger and Smyth families, and works by noted photographer June Glenn Jr. Reuther lives in Flat Rock, North Carolina, with her husband, Lee, and two cats, Charleston and Dixie.

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      Carl Sandburg Home, Connemara, The - Galen Reuther

      projects.

      INTRODUCTION

      To appreciate the significance of the Carl Sandburg Home, Connemara, one must go back to the early 1800s, when an elite group of Lowcountry planters, businessmen, and statesmen discovered the pleasures of summers high in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This scenic area with cloud-piercing evergreens, abundant wildlife, and pure air and water took its name from an immense expanse of exposed rock that was the summer campground of the Cherokee. Portions of the rock can still be seen at the Flat Rock Playhouse and at the entry to the Flat Rock Village Hall.

      In 1783, North Carolina ceded all land claimed by the Cherokee to the federal government, and shortly afterward, land grants were issued to pioneers who established the first inns, taverns, mills, and farms. It was not until the first real road, the Old Buncombe Turnpike, was completed in 1827 that travel by stagecoach became possible. It was at this time that the face of Flat Rock would begin to be irrevocably changed. The South Carolina rice fields had changed from water reserves to tidal irrigation, resulting in standing water that attracted disease-carrying insects. The first families came not only in search of a cool and healthy summer climate, but also to explore possible development of rail lines from the interior to the seacoast.

      In 1827, Charles and Susan Baring of Charleston built the first grand estate, Mountain Lodge, and acquired up to 4,000 acres of land. They in turn sold land to friends who followed. The Charlestonians formed their own group and established a lavish lifestyle not seen today. It was into this group, in this village called The Little Charleston of the Mountains, that Christopher Gustavus Memminger would arrive in 1836. He bought his first parcel of land from Charles Baring on which to build a farm. He named his farm Rock Hill and would come to call it my earthly paradise. So begins the story of a very special place, the Carl Sandburg Home, Connemara.

      One

      EARLY FLAT ROCK

      The Memminger Era

      All owners of Rock Hill, now the Carl Sandburg Home, National Historic Site, were important people of their time. C. G. Memminger, born in Germany and orphaned as a child in Charleston, would become one of the South’s great attorneys and advocates of equal education. He supported the Union when winds of a Civil War began to blow but gradually realized secession was inevitable. He would serve as first secretary of the Confederate treasury under Pres. Jefferson Davis.

      Memminger, a man of slight build and fragile health, fell in love with Flat Rock, and by all accounts, his time here was cherished. Here he could farm and garden and be among friends. A noted architect of the time, Prussian-born Charles F. Reichardt, was hired to design the Greek Revival–style house. Thanks to Memminger’s meticulous notes and account books, we know the timeline for completion of most buildings on the property.

      Construction began in the spring of 1838, and that summer, the kitchen house and stable were constructed. By 1839, the main house was complete, and the Memmingers spent their first summer in Flat Rock. The cook’s house (now the wash house/chicken house) was erected c. 1841, and in 1843, a wagon shed was built. Around 1845, Memminger purchased land for his Valley Farm, where he planted his vegetable garden. Valley Farm would become Tranquility, owned by Memminger’s youngest son, Edward. About the same time, an icehouse was built, and in 1846–1849, an addition was added to the main house. The servant’s quarters (now the Swedish house) were constructed c. 1850. The front lake and dam were completed in 1855. Memminger also kept a record of temperatures at Flat Rock and sent them to the Charleston newspaper so Charlestonians could read how lovely the summers were in Flat Rock.

      The Memmingers were in Flat Rock the summer of 1864 and remained for the duration of the Civil War. To fortify the house against intruders and bushwhackers, Memminger removed the front entrance steps (not rebuilt until the Gregg era), the lower floor was fortified with sandbags, and gun ports were cut in the walls of the house. It became a safe haven for villagers and friends who felt threatened. Memminger was at Rock Hill when informed of General Lee’s surrender and Sherman’s triumph at Bentonville. We owe a debt of gratitude to Memminger for establishing this unsurpassed property and to his family and those who came after for being good stewards of the land. By all accounts, the Carl Sandburg Home is the only grand estate of its era that has not been subdivided.

      Christopher Gustavus Memminger was born in Germany (then the Kingdom of Wurtenberg) in 1803. He is shown here at the age of 30, just three years prior to his arrival in Flat Rock. Memminger had a brilliant mind. He graduated from South Carolina College (the University of South Carolina) at the age of 16, graduating second in his class. He became a U.S. citizen in 1824 and was admitted to the Bar in 1825. In 1832, he married Mary Withers Wilkinson, the woman he called the love of my young life, and they had 11 children, 9 of whom reached adulthood.

      Rock Hill, built by C. G. Memminger in 1837–1838, is seen here in a stereopticon image. This is the only known image of the house from this

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