Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Today’s Prompt: Bookish Places I’ve Visited (Share all the cool places you’ve been that are bookish or tied to books! This includes neat libraries, book stores, places featured in books, places inspired by books, author homes/places they’ve stayed, etc. You can also share your bucket list of the bookish places you’d like to visit someday.) (submitted by Susan @Bloggin’ ’bout Books)
I thought maybe I didn’t have anything for this post, but as I puzzled it out, I found I had more than I first thought!
Thanks to a trip out to the east coast, I visited three all pretty much at once. Salem, MA (The Crucible), and then we toured The House of the Seven Gables while we were there. The next day we meandered over to Walden.
And now let’s look at another classic writer, Hemingway. I have been to the Keys a few times, and of course visited Hemingway’s house there. And saw all the kitties! I can’t find any of my own photos from that trip, but visiting his house was one of my favorite parts of visiting the Keys. That and breakfast outside at the Banana Cafe. I have also visited Petoskey Michigan, which was an old stomping ground of Hemingway’s, and have stayed at the Perry Hotel, which he had also stayed at as well. There is a statue of him in the park there; he is the one in bronze, the other guy is my dad.
But let’s stay in Florida a minute, this time further north. My dad and I once took a trip to visit a favorite author, Connie May Fowler, who was having a small seminar for would be writers, in her home! It was seriously an amazing trip. We got to visit St. Augustine, and then we spent a day with Ms. Fowler and her husband in their beach home, learning about writing. Her husband made us all lunch, and it was just a once in a lifetime vacation. She is probably most well known for Before Women Had Wings, but my favorite is her book Remembering Blue. The picture with the pig and the bottles is from her deck. I felt like it would be weird to take a fan girl photo with her in the situation, but I did have her sign my copies of her books. Lol.
Let’s stay in the South.
I have been to Savannah a few times, and of course while I was there I had to visit the house from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, The Mercer House.
I do not have a photo of when I visited the Mark Twain Caves from Tom Sawyer. I was a kid then though, so that is not my fault.
Ok, I am at 8 books. What do I have left?
Oh duh. Anne Rice! I was obsessed with New Orleans for a long time, and had to visit Anne Rice’s house. We couldn’t of course go in, she lived there, but I did have my picture taken in front of her house – that other person is my little brother.
And then, let’s just stay here in New Orleans, shall we? We can talk about Tennessee Williams while we are at it. I saw places there that he stayed, where he ate, the streetcars that were the inspiration for Streetcar Named Desire, places where he wrote. His stamp was all over that city, with good reason. I unfortunately do not have the photos for these places but I do have these memories. New Orleans inspires creativity and writing and I am sure we could all list books that we have read that are set there.
And with that my friends, I am ending here. I can’t wait to see what you all wrote about.
And remember, I am cohosts with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and Cat at Cat’s Wire, of the linkup A Good Book and a Cup of Tea for all things books -not just books read or reviews, but bookstore visits or author visits or whatever else bookish you can think of! You can find the link up for August here!
You made a terrific list!
I grew up 30 minutes south of Hannibal so I went to the Cave several times, but I don’t have any photos, either.
They have updated some of the things in Hannibal, so it’s worth coming back for the Museum and the Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher homes as well as the cave.
Thanks Joy! I had forgotten about those homes actually! Thank you for the reminder. I will have to visit again one day.
Walden has been a popular pick this week!
It does seem to be a well traveled to place which seems ironic, doesn’t it? Lol.
What a great list and great memories to go along with it!
Thanks Dini!
I’d love to see the Walden build!
It was a cool place to visit. 🙂
What a great list! I visited Salem in the early 90s. My cousin was working in Boston for a couple of years so I went out for a visit.
We took a huge trip out east when I was younger and it stuck with me forever. I am pretty sure we hit every state in the New England/Mid-Atlantic region on that trip. It was awesome.
You’ve been to some fun places! 🙌
Thanks!
Sounds like you’ve had some great trips and seen some cool things on those trips. Always fun to see places that have connections to books. 🙂
I need to think about these types of trips more for my son. I didn’t consider it until today for some reason. He loves books.
It seems you’ve enjoyed many bookish destinations, thanks for sharing your #TTT
It was more than I thought!
Oh fun! Other than broad setting like books set in Boston or “on the cape” I think I’d have a hard time coming up with 10 specific book places I’ve been. We’ve been to Salem, toured Mark Twain’s House in Hartford, CT, toured Gillette’s castle in Hamden, CT (sort of book adjacent as the actor that played Sherlock Holmes used his acting money to build it)… The Biltmore was in the Wedding Veil by Kristen Woodson Harvey and I toured that this spring. I’ve read a few book set in the Newport Mansions which we’ve toured– The Elms and The Breakers. Oh there is the Boxcar Children’s Museum as the author lived in my hometown. The Suess Museum in Massachusetts was fun. That’s as far as I can get but 8’s not bad.
That’s a lot!!! You have been a lot of places! That Boxcar Children’s Museum sounds so cute!
Wow, this is a great list! It’s amazing all the book places we have all over! 🙂
It really is!
I need to take a trip to the South to visit some of the places you visited. I really want to go to Savannah and of course NOLA. I was in Florida and we made it about half way down the road toward Kew West but we didn’t see any Hemingway sites. Darn. I live on the complete opposite side of the country (Washington State) so trips that far have to be very purposeful.
I would love to make it to your side of the country one day.
Savannah is amazing. So is New Orleans but different vibes for sure!
I have also been to Hemingway’s house! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I think my favorite part of his house were all of the cats! Lol
Wow, you did great! I have never been to New Orleans but I think it would be great to visit.
It is such a fantastic city! There is so much to do and see there!
When I read the prompt, I thought I’d never manage ten if I did this, but I would have been able to add one or the other library.
You got a great list there!
After seeing everyone’s posts today, I learned that I need to visit more libraries!
Oh wow, that’s amazing that you’ve been to all these places! I never even thought about looking at the prompt from this point of view. I have wanted to visit Prince Edward Island because of Anne of Green Gables but I haven’t put much thought into other book settings and/or where authors live.
Haze
https://thebookhaze.com/
That would be such a great trip. I would love to do that as well!
I love all your photos!
Thanks Louise!
OOh nice list! I did see the garden in Savannah once too! That was pretty cool! Lots of new to me places here!
Thanks for visiting my TTT!
Thank you!
I visited the Keys as a kid, but I don’t remember a lot about it. Maybe I’ll go back.
Here’s my TTT for the week: https://readbakecreate.com/fictional-bookstores-i-would-love-to-visit/
We had a good time there, even though we are not beach people. Lol.
I am impressed by all the bookish places you have visited. I have visited a few of them, but I haven’t seen near the places you’ve seen. I think the only one is the house in Savannah. I really want to get that statue for my garden some day!
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
That house was amazing wasn’t it? And that statue is so iconic!
Fun topic. I’ve been to Hemingway’s House and loved it. It was years ago and saw all those kitties. Like you, I can’t find all of my pics from then. It was before my cellphone became my camera. lol I loved reading your list.
Lol yes!! All those photos that we have to find the printed out copies of now. Lol. Those cats were my favorite part of the trip and visiting his house, I think. Lol.
Wow! Lots of visits to bookish locations for you. And I loved how you explained which one was your dad. Snort. Of course I know you were explaining who was in the photo but it just sounded funny. I think that’s because I was super sleepy while reading this. Because it was a long day. Not because it was boring …. Dang. I need to stop before I dig any deeper!
Lol!! I am glad you you liked that part because I was being silly there. LOL.
I figured, of course.
New Orleans is definitely high on my list of places I want to visit. Your story about Connie May Fowler is so cool!
That was such a neat trip. It was cool to go on a trip with just my dad, and to hang out with Connie May Fowler like that!
You’ve been to lots of great bookish places! I’ve been to Massachusetts, but it was really just driving through on our way to somewhere else. I’d love to go back and do all the bookish stuff in Concord, Salem, and so on.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Wow! And you initially thought you had nothing? You’ve been to so many fantastic places, Erin!
You’ve been to a lot of spots and I love the match-ups you made! I must ponder this one!
You did well and there are a lot of places on your post I would like to visit. I was close to Hannibal, but we didn’t stop there. I would like to go someday.
These are awesome! We didn’t visit The Mercer House, but we did visit Bonaventure.
I completely forgot about the Mark Twain caves, I went there as a kid too! I remember in New Orleans I think there were some places my friend told me that Hemingway visited? And I wanted to see Anne Rice’s house, maybe we drove past it? The newer house she lived in for a while was in my friend who lives in NOLA’s neighborhood too. Lots of great places here, I’ve always wanted to go to Salem for all the history too!
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Hm, I’ve been to Rudyard Kipling’s house and also Sissinghurst, where Vita Sackville-West lived (and Knole, where she grew up) and Adam Nicolson her grandson, also a writer, lived for a while (though after I was there). Also wherever it was Churchill lived and he counts, right? These are all in Kent, where I grew up. I’m pretty sure I must have been to Hardy’s cottage and Jane Austen’s house but I’ve not been to Haworth for the Brontes. I think that’s it, though, for me.