Rowan Oak: The Mansion, myth and reality.

When Faulkner bought his manse at the height of the Depression, Rowan Oak was something of a mess, albeit a grand mess, with its winding drive, overhung with cedars, and its four columns fronting the graceful portico. It was, in a word, Sartorian.

Inside, however, was a different story; no electricity or plumbing and the beams were rotted. The house literally sagged under the weight of neglect. Faulkner would spend the rest of his life repairing and adding—revising, one might say. He added stables and a study he designed himself, doing much of the construction and repairs with his own hands. Unlike his great literary productions, Rowan Oak was always something of a work in progress.

Today Rowan Oak is a preserved masterpiece precisely because it will never be finished; it will always remain just as it was the moment the artist left it. In the study you can see the outline for A Fable, scrawled across the walls in graphite and red grease pencil.

From Rowan Oak, you may want to explore other Faulkner sites on campus, like Ventress Hall, an elegant Victorian structure that Faulkner once helped to repaint, hung from the belfry on ropes, and that today contains a century of history. The Louis Tiffany stained glass window commemorates the University Greys, a young company of Ole Miss students who perished to a man at Gettysburg.

Before you leave Oxford, you may want to tour the city’s several historic cemeteries, including St. Peter’s where Faulkner and his family are buried. Then, head out of town, east, where Faulkner used to go for relaxation and refreshment, at Sardis Lake.