Rowan Oak (William Faulkner's Home)

Rowan Oak is the historic home and estate of Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner, located at 916 Old Taylor Road in Oxford, Mississippi, approximately one mile south of the town square. Faulkner purchased the property in 1930 and lived there until his death in 1962, writing many of his most celebrated novels — including 'Light in August,' 'Absalom, Absalom!,' and 'The Sound and the Fury' — in the study off the main parlor.

The house is a white-painted Greek Revival structure built in the 1840s, surrounded by nearly 30 acres of cedar and pine forest that Faulkner himself landscaped and managed. The property is owned and administered by the University of Mississippi, which has preserved it largely as Faulkner left it. The furniture, books, and personal objects remain in place, giving the rooms an intimacy unusual among literary historic sites.

The most famous feature of the house is Faulkner's study, where the outline for his novel 'A Fable' is handwritten directly on the plaster wall in pencil — visible exactly as Faulkner left it in the 1950s. Visitors can view the study through a glass barrier. The parlor, dining room, and bedroom are open for self-guided viewing, with interpretive panels providing context for each room.

The grounds are as distinctive as the house: a long cedar-lined avenue leads to the front door, and a walking trail through the wooded property passes the smokehouse and the stable where Faulkner kept horses. A visit combines well with a stroll around Oxford's town square, a short drive north, where Square Books is a celebrated independent bookshop with an excellent Faulkner section. The $5 admission fee makes this one of Mississippi's most affordable literary landmarks.