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4.5
196 votes

Rowan Oak

916 Old Taylor Rd, Oxford, Mississippi 38655 USA

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Closed Now
Opens Thu 10a
  • Independent
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    Accepted
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“Former home of William Faulkner!”

Rowan Oak, also known as William Faulkner House, is William Faulkner's former home in Oxford, Mississippi. It is a primitive Greek Revival house built in the 1840s by Robert Sheegog. Faulkner purchased the house when it was in disrepair in the 1930s and did much of the renovations himself. Other renovations were done in the 1950s. The house sits on 4 landscaped and twenty nine acres of largely wooded property known as Bailey's Woods. One of its more famous features is the outline of Faulkner's Pulitzer-prize winning novel A Fable, penciled in graphite and red on the plaster wall of his study. Though the "rowan oak" is a mythical tree, the grounds and surrounding woods of Rowan Oak contain hundreds of species of native Mississippi plants, most of which date back to antebellum times. The alley of cedars that lines the driveway was common in the 19th century. The studs of the house are 4"x4" square cypress, they were hand-hewn. Faulkner drew much inspiration for his treatment of multi-layered Time from Rowan Oak, where past and future seemed to inhabit the present.

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Reviewed by
kevett01

  • 2 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
August 05, 2014
Rated 4.0

Beautiful house and land! We were able to walk the grounds even though the house itself wasn't open the day we went (a Monday). It was a bit difficult to find though; a little bit off the beaten path. But definitely a special historical landmark.

1 person found this review helpful

Reviewed by
alicia.pernell.7

  • 4 Reviews
  • 5 Helpful
May 21, 2013
Rated

I visited Rowan Oak a few years ago. Such a beautiful place! I kind of wish I could mimic the decor in my own house.

1 person found this review helpful

Reviewed by
Paige Peters

  • 17 Reviews
  • 0 Helpful
July 28, 2023
Rated 5.0

Entry is $5 cash only. The house is beautiful and smells like a sweet tobacco pipe. Walking the grounds is free and also gorgeous! Enjoy!

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Reviewed by
Lesli Peterson

  • Blogger
  • 1,213 Reviews
  • 60 Helpful
January 29, 2023
Rated 5.0

You can tour the home of Oxford’s author William Faulkner, Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winning author. Faulkner purchased this home in 1930 and made it his own until his death. He is one of America’s most celebrated authors…with a penchant for extreme detail, circular writing, intricate character descriptions and long complex sentences. In fact, Absalom, Absalom includes the longest sentence in literary history.

You can see where he and Estelle raised their children and made a life for themselves. I loved seeing Faulkner’s own handwriting on the wall, both by the telephone and in an upstairs room where he outlined A Fable, the story for which he won the Pulitzer.

There are not an exceptional number of oak trees on the property – primarily cedar. But look as you may, you won’t find a single Rowan Oak – it’s a mythical tree. Anther fun fact: the plethora of Cypress you see here and around Oxford are from a time passed when people didn’t know where malaria came from…they just knew it wasn’t happening in the mountains. Perhaps, they thought, it didn’t happen there because of the smell coming from the Cypress, and so they planted hundreds! And they are lovely.

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Reviewed by
MaDe19

  • 28 Reviews
  • 5 Helpful
June 18, 2020
Rated

Interesting grounds with a short trail and room to walk the yard. Been twice with no interest in entering home. There is a fee to enter.

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Reviewed by
KATIE CORLEY

  • 53 Reviews
  • 36 Helpful
September 06, 2016
Rated 5.0

Beautiful home and grounds to tour. Love the history here.

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Reviewed by
KATIE CORLEY

  • 53 Reviews
  • 36 Helpful
March 15, 2015
Rated 5.0

Rich in history with lovely grounds & a beautiful home to tour.

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Rowan Oak

916 Old Taylor Rd
Oxford, Mississippi
38655 USA
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Hours

Closed Now
  • Sun: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • Tue - Sat: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

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