Home - Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara, Inc.

Friends at Hendo Earth Fest

April 20th turned out to be a beautiful Carolina day – perfect for the 2nd Annual Hendo Earth Fest in downtown Hendersonville. The Friends of Carl Sandburg had a tent on Main Street manned by Board Members including Elizabeth Christenbury, Ellen Sugarman and Ginger Brown. Visited by many festival goer, adults and kids alike enjoyed the face-painting and seed planting and the uniformed Rangers. What a great opportunity to inform, educate, and share all that the Carl Sandburg Home Historical National Site has to offer!

Carl and Lilian’s Granddaughter

In 1945, Carl and Lilian moved their three daughters and two grandchildren to Connemara farm in Flat Rock, NC. As a young child, Paula spent seven years surrounded by nature, a warm nurturing family and many famous visitors to the house. She later wrote a memoir, My Connemara, depicting those formative years of her life on the farm. As an adult, Paula returned to the area, married Stanley Polega and settled in Jeter Mountain. She devoted time and energy to support the legacy of the Sandburgs and the historic site of Connemara. Flat Rock resident Richard Labunski had a rare interview with Paula in 2015. A short video from that interview with some wonderful family photos can be viewed here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlPEBwv48dA

Who We Are

The Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara, Inc. is an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3 non-profit organization that supports the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site to promote, protect and preserve the legacy of Carl Sandburg. To learn more about the Friends, our mission, and what we do, just click here…

In 2023, the Friends raised nearly $86,000 in 2023 to purchase then donate a new, accessible visitor shuttle van for the Park to accommodate visitors. Not only will this van be used while the front lake dam is re-designed and repaired, but will continue to provide a safe, comfortable way for visitors of all ages and abilities to access the park. A BIG thank you to The Community Foundation of Henderson County with the Rudnick Endowment, The Village of Flat Rock, the Hunter Hometown Foundation, as well as numerous individual donors.

Carl Sandburg, "The Poet of the People"

Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg was widely regarded as “a major figure in contemporary literature”, especially for volumes of his collected verse, including Chicago Poems (1916), Cornhuskers (1918), and Smoke and Steel (1920). He enjoyed “unrivaled appeal as a poet in his day, perhaps because the breadth of his experiences connected him with so many strands of American life”, and at his death in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson observed that “Carl Sandburg was more than the voice of America, more than the poet of its strength and genius. He was America.^“

To learn more about Carl Sandburg, his works, and his family, click here to be directed to the National Park Service website.

Thank You to...

Our many supporters both individuals and businesses who are committed to the Friends’ mission. They, through farsightedness and generosity, seek to ensure that the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site will continue to be available for future generations.

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Friends at Hendo Earth Fest

Carl and Lilian’s Granddaughter

Who We Are

Carl Sandburg, "The Poet of the People"

Thank You to...

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