Native Roots
Rowan Oak, William Faulkner’s storied estate, remains a vital and vibrant channel for the life and work of a beacon of Southern literature
By Beth Ann Fennelly
In 1956, William Faulkner told The Paris Review why he habitually set his novels in his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi, and its surrounding countryside: “I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it.” And he never did. The thirty years in which Faulkner lived in his stately Greek Revival home in Oxford were prolific, resulting in his winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Award. Such recognition, according to his biographer Joseph Blotner, made Faulkner “the most honored of living writers, secured as one of America’s greatest artists.”
Rowan Oak, built in 1844, is a classic example of Greek Revival architecture, with its stately white columns and symmetrical façade. When William Faulkner purchased the home in 1930, it was in disrepair—but he embraced its quiet charm and slowly restored it over time.
Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, photograph by Carol M. Highsmith
All of that was yet to come—and as unlikely as the thirtieth of February—back when slightly shabby Faulkner bought the slightly shabby 1844 house in 1930. Faulkner moved into it with his wife, Estelle—his divorced childhood sweetheart—and her two children from her previous marriage; in a few years their daughter Jill would join the family. Over the next three decades Faulkner made additions and renovations to the house, installing plumbing and electricity. He famously refused to install air conditioning, however, despite the repeated entreaties of Estelle. That she never ceased yearning for relief from the Mississippi heat is evident in one of the many interesting documents retrieved from the home after Faulkner’s death in 1962—a receipt showing a window unit installed in Estelle’s bedroom the day after her husband’s funeral.
“I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it.”
Faulkner named their home “Rowan Oak” after two trees: the rowan tree of Scotland, a symbol of peace and security, and the live oak of America, a symbol of solitude and strength. While neither tree has ever grown on the property, Rowan Oak boasts a diverse landscape, celebrated in Ed Croom’s beautifully photographed The Land of Rowan Oak: An Exploration of Faulkner’s Natural World. The house is centered on four landscaped acres, which include a concentric circle garden, a scuppernong arbor, a pasture for Faulkner’s horses and milk cow, and outbuildings such as a stable, barn, and servants’ quarters (the residence of Caroline Barr, the Faulkner family caretaker, who lived in the building until 1940 when she died at age 100).
Faulkner built a stable on the grounds of Rowan Oak in 1957 to house his beloved horses, as well as their feed, tack, and horse trailer.
Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, University of Mississippi Libraries
An antebellum outbuilding was used by the house’s former owners, the Sheegogs, as a dwelling for enslaved people and was later converted into an outdoor kitchen, and later still converted by Faulkner into a smokehouse for storing and smoking ham. These outbuildings and gardens are wrapped by twenty-nine acres of hardwood forest, accessible by a well-maintained trail. Magnificent eastern red cedar trees line the walkway from the road to the house, cedars planted after yellow fever swept through the South because such trees were believed to purify the air.
Since 1972, Rowan Oak has been owned by The University of Mississippi, which maintains the National Historic Landmark as a museum open to the public year-round. The house retains 90 percent of its original objects—not just Faulkner’s riding boots and nearly empty whiskey bottle, but the bookcases Faulkner built in his library that contain locking compartments to store his shotgun shells, and the paintings done by his mother, Maud Butler Falkner (William Faulkner restored the ‘u’ to the family name in 1918—his great-grandfather, William Clark “Old Colonel” Falkner, had done away with it, claiming that without the superfluous letter, the name is “pronounced the same and uses less ink.”)
Above the bed, Faulkner scrawled the outline for his 1954 novel A Fable.
Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, University of Mississippi Libraries
The object of deepest reverence for Faulkner pilgrims—a list, by the way, which includes dignitaries such as John Updike, Alice Walker, Salman Rushdie, Tom Waits, and the Coen Brothers—is Faulkner’s Underwood typewriter, which seems to emit an electric aura from the small table where it sits in Faulkner’s office. High on the walls in that same room, Faulkner outlined with red grease pencil the plot for his World War I novel, A Fable. Across the hall, in the kitchen, the writing on the wall becomes more practical: beside the phone—the same one Faulkner was summoned to in 1949 when an echoey international call from Sweden informed him he’d won the Nobel Prize—the phone numbers for the pharmacy and Faulkner family members have been penciled. Visitors can learn more about these rooms or the four bedrooms above through audio tours or through Bill Griffith, Rowan Oak’s entertaining and deeply knowledgeable curator, who is usually on hand to point out hidden treasures.
“The object of deepest reverence for Faulkner pilgrims—a list, by the way, which includes John Updike, Alice Walker, Salman Rushdie, Tom Waits, and the Coen Brothers—is Faulkner’s Underwood typewriter.”
For the inhabitants of Oxford, Rowan Oak is not a dusty historical landmark but a vibrant green space in the center of town. The path through the woods, where tall ridges with elm and oak drop off into ravines, is a favorite of dog-walkers and students seeking a respite between classes—walking the path takes about twenty minutes and pops you out at the edge of the University Museum. The grounds of Rowan Oak have been the backdrop for picnics and prom pictures and more than a handful of wedding proposals.
Bric-a-brac and books fill a bookcase in the author's studio.
Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, University of Mississippi Libraries
Each July, Faulkner scholars descend for the Annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference, four days of lectures and panels. And each October, the grounds transform into an enchanted forest for Harvest Supper, the fundraising event for Rowan Oak and the University Museum. Slated this year for Thursday, October 30, this event regularly sells out and has become a cornerstone cultural event for Mississippi. Hosted by the Friends of the Museum, a volunteer advocacy organization, Harvest Supper celebrates Oxford’s rich culture of writing, art, music, and food. Beneath the trees draped with bistro lights and hung with chandeliers, 600 arts supporters enjoy a farm-to-table buffet featuring celebrated chefs, while both live and online auctions offer coveted pieces by artists such as Coulter Fussell, Thad Lee, Robert Malone, Earl Dismuke, and Maude Schuyler Clay.
The band plays late and the whiskey pours are deep—the ghost of crowd-averse Faulkner would approve only of that last bit, perhaps—a magical Mississippi night, all in service of keeping Faulkner’s little postage stamp in circulation forever. V
Rowan Oak is open to visitors year-round with the exception of major holidays. No appointments are necessary—except for tour groups of 10 or more or school groups. Please call (662) 234-3284 to make those arrangements; rowanoak.com
This story appears in our Fall 2025 issue.
