William Faulkner's Rowan Oak

Old Taylor Road

P. O. Box 965
Oxford, Mississippi 38655

Hours:
Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m.-noon and 2 p.m. - 4 p.m..; Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Sunday, noon.-4 p.m.; Closed on Mondays and major holidays

Admission: Free

Telephone: (662) 234-3284

This two-story white frame home with square columns was built by a pioneer settler in the 1840s. The large rooms and tall ceilings are typical of Southern homes of this era. When William Faulkner bought the home in 1930, he named the home and its 32-acre property in honor of the legendary Rowan tree, which shades the elegant front porch. Folklore tells that Scottish peasants placed a cross of Rowan wood over their thresholds to ward off evil spirits and give the occupants a place of refuge, privacy, and peace.

When the Faulkners moved into their new home, it had no lights, no plumbing, and no running water. And, they bathed outside in the courtyard. Faulkner hammered and painted all summer. He and a helper scrubbed the house inside and out, installed plumbing and electricity, and added fresh paint to all the walls. A short time later, Faulkner built the brick wall to shield himself and his wife from the strangers who would often stand in the yard and gawk at the local celebrity.

Included in the furnishings of Rowan Oak are paintings by Faulkner's mother and a bust of Don Quixote, given to Faulkner in 1961 by the president of Venezuela.

The handwritten plot outline of A Fable can be seen on the walls of Faulkner's office which he built after being awarded a Nobel Prize in 1949. A portable typewriter sits on the table, a bottle of horse liniment and a carpenter's pencil nearby, just as they were on the day Faulkner died.

Tourists are welcome to walk around the grounds. Behind the house is a stable and a cook's house and kitchen, used by Faulkner as a smokehouse. Many visitors also enjoy walking from Rowan Oak into town, as Faulkner did almost everyday.

Faulkner lived most of his life in Oxford, his family having moved there when he was four years old. His tales of Yoknapatawpha County were based on his experiences of growing up in Oxford. Many of the characters in his writings are composites of people he knew.

William Cuthbert Faulkner (1897-1962)
Obsessed by an interest in writing, William Faulkner became one of America's best novelists. He incorporated both realism and symbolism in his stream-of-consciousness technique of writing. Awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949 and Pulitzer Prizes in 1955 and 1963, Faulkner achieved international recognition.

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