In 1945, Carl Sandburg and his wife, Lilian, were in search of a new setting: She needed more space and a milder climate for her prize-winning Chikaming goat herd, and he needed a peaceful place to write. When Sandburg saw the splendid view from the porch of the house called Connemara in Flat Rock, N.C., he declared: "This is the place. We will look no further."

He was 67, and Lilian was 62 when they packed up their belongings, including more than 14,000 books (that's 21 tons of books), and shipped them via train from Harbert, Mich., to Flat Rock. Sandburg lived there with his wife, their three children and two grandchildren until his death in 1967. He published a third of his books while there, including "Complete Poems" and his only novel, "Remembrance Rock."

Lilian Sandburg managed and operated the Connemara Farms Goat Dairy and bred world-famous champion goats.

Visiting Connemara, now a National Historic Site managed by the National Park Service, it's immediately apparent why Sandburg felt so strongly about living there. Its setting is 264 acres of diverse and beautiful land, filled with more than 500 types of plants and 14 ecosystems. Sandburg described "the creative hush" of Connemara, and if you listen carefully, you can hear and feel it all around.

Flat Rock is in Henderson County, 30 miles south of Asheville. The enchantment of Flat Rock and the western North Carolina mountain landscape comes from its variety and ever-evolving nature. The road from Asheville to the small city of Hendersonville, Interstate Highway 26, astounds around almost every bend. The land opens up into wide mountain ranges, and there are patches of wildflowers on many of the roadside strips. The weather was changeable on the day I was traveling, but this was a benefit. The mountains were sheltered in "smoke" one moment and revealed in sunshine the next.


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