Literary Pilgrimages

My cousin used to live in Tarrytown!  Lovely place to visit.

My college roommate lived in Tarrytown and it was lovely! But Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is in Concord, Mass.

My college roommate lived in Tarrytown and it was lovely! But Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is in Concord, Mass.

D'oh!  There's one in New York as well.  I just assumed that's the one you were referring to.  Sleepy Hollow always ties to Washington Irving in my mind.

i've been to ben bulben in sligo, under the shadow of which yeats is buried. very emotional place for me.

also went to the abbey theatre in dublin, which he helped found. it's not the same building, but i think the spirit remains intact.

Sleepy Hollow always ties to Washington Irving in my mind.

Me too, til I visited this cemetery - it was the first time I didn't feel creepy in a cemetery, but lovely and peaceful.

Anybody know of any other good Harry Potter locations?

I almost missed my flight home from London because I had to stop by and get a photo at Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross!!  (That one might be a little obvious but...I HAD to get that pic!!)

Something cool going on in Haworth today:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/7135156.stm

I'll have to try & remember this for next year, cos it sounds nice!

Bloomsbury was always a good one for me when I lived in London, Virginia Woolf and all that:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomsbury

That Haworth parade looked pretty good!

Someday I will go to Ben Bulben I hope.

I've never been anywhere in New England. 

When I moved to Atlanta I really wanted to drive out to Milledgeville to see the hometown of Flannery O'Connor.  I couldn't find anyone who knew anything about her or who was interested, so I ended up going out there on my own.  I went to the local library, where I was told I couldn't see her papers unless I was a student doing a dissertation or something (I wasn't).  The librarian was nice though, and she told me everything she knew about Flannery, including directions to her house, where to find her grave in the local cemetery, and she even set up a slide-show thing for me to watch.  It was an Easter Saturday and a beautiful Georgia spring day.  I left a lily on her grave.  Her mother still lived in the old house so I didn't stop and take a picture of it.  I was saddened to see how rundown it was and thought Flannery probably didn't earn much money from her writing.

I agree with everyone's sentiment on Haworth--it is an absolutely stunning place. Hard to believe it's been 2 1/2 years since I've been there...I'm now in the mood to visit again

I'm not a Shakespeare fan, but I still want to visit Stratford-upon-Avon...I also want to go to Sherwood Forest  The Lake District, as well 

There is a pub in Bristol called The Hole in the Wall which supposedly inspired the Spyglass Inn in Treasure Island. It has a real life hole in the wall spy window where folks would keep a watch for press gangs. Plus it has really good food and a cozy fire. Mmm

Yes, I know this is an old thread but it's my old thread.

Has anybody done anymore good literary excursions??

Ever since Chary gave me Arthur and George, I've had an irrational desire to see Great Wyrley in Staffordshire and the photo of George Edalji in the church.

I'm glad you revived it--I wasn't around the first time! 

I went to Bath to soak up the Jane Austen air.  What surprised me was that her two novels set in Bath (Northanger Abbey and Persuasion) actually all take place at actual locations in Bath.  Persuasion is my favorite book in the whole world, so I got a big thrill out of going to the places where each of the characters lived, imagining the streets that they walked down (mentioned by name in the book!) and the rooms where they met.  I actually found a map of locations in the books that had little quotes from the books--I don't think I got it at the Jane Austen center (which, to be honest, didn't do a lot for me).  Maybe at one of the other museums?

I always wanted to go to the Laura Ingalls Wilder locations.  I can't believe I used to live in the midwest but never got to go!

i received a scholarship from my college to do just such a thing, which is the reason i first travelled to the uk for the first time.  i organized a research project around sylvia plath and ted hughes and the ways that location influenced their writing and spent 3 months retracing their steps throughout the uk and europe.  i looked closely at journals and letters they had written and went to specific holiday spots, the church where they were married, every single house they had lived in, etc.  the coolest part was when i went up to yorkshire and was given a private tour of ted hughes' home and had tea with several of his friends.  the whole trip was an amazing experience and the funniest part is how much time i spent in cambridge researching them both and 6 years later i am about to move to cambridge myself! 

I always wanted to go to the Laura Ingalls Wilder locations.  I can't believe I used to live in the midwest but never got to go!

my mom did this trip!  she spent weeks driving to each of the sites and loved it! i feel like i should go at some point myself since i'm actually related to almanzo wilder!   

My favorite author, C.S. Lewis.  Was in Oxford one year, so hit the Eagle and Child Pub (home of the Inklings group, including Tolkien), Magdalen College, The Kilns (his house, now owned by a bunch of So Californians, oddly enough), and his gravesite.