By Connie Limon
Thomas Wolfe is considered by many to be one of the giants of 20th Century American Literature. The Old Kentucky Home boarding house is one of American Literature’s most famous landmarks.
Hours of Operation
• April to October, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, closed on Monday
• November to March, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, closed on Monday
Thomas Wolfe, author, lived in the Kentucky Home boarding house, run by his mother, for ten years. He was strongly influenced by Asheville, his hometown, and by the boarding house itself. Thomas Wolfe’s writings were inspired by his childhood days in Asheville, North Carolina. The very realistic portrayals of Asheville, its citizens, which included Wolfe’s own family, prompted Look Homeward, Angel to be banned from his hometown library. Wolfe did not visit Asheville for almost eight years during the time his book was published. When Thomas Wolfe finally went home in the summer of 1937, he stayed in the boarding house with his mother and wrote the article “Return,” which was published in the Asheville newspaper.
Thomas Wolfe lived only to be 38 years old, and is perhaps the most overtly autobiographical novelist in American Literature. In his short life span, he produced four novels which are:
• Look Homeward, Angel
• Of Time and the River
• The Web and the rock
• You Can’t Go Home Again
Thomas Wolfe, novelist, also wrote numerous short stories, novellas and plays. The Old Kentucky Home boarding house has been a memorial to him since 1949. It is currently open in North Carolina as a State Historical Site. The visitor center features exhibits about Wolfe and his family as well as an audio-visual presentation about the life of Thomas Wolfe and his writing.
Tours of the Old Kentucky Home
Available for tourists today are the guided tours. During his lifetime, Thomas Wolfe, foresaw the future of his mother’s boarding house. He wrote his second novel, Of Time and the River, that foretold how the “old dilapidated house had now become a fit museum.”
A fire in 1998 later discovered to have been intentionally set almost destroyed the historic Old Kentucky Home. Intensive restoration to the historic house and the surviving artifact collection enabled the Old Kentucky Home to reopen to visitors in May of 2004.
Directly behind the historic Old Kentucky Home boarding house is a modern visitor center that opened in late 1996. The visitor center is located at 52 North Market Street and features an exhibit hall with the personal effects from the Wolfe family home, Wolfe’s New York City apartment, and his father’s stonecutting shop. Every hour, an audio-visual program on the life of Thomas Wolfe and his writing is presented. The guided tours of the boarding house begin at the visitor center. This building also features a gift shop.
Visitor Center Hours
• April to October, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday
• Sunday’s beginning June 3, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., November through March, and closed on Mondays
• 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday and closed on Mondays
For more information you can call 828-253-8304
Current Events
At the time of writing this article, an upcoming event at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Historical site on October 27th features “Witches, Haints and Booger Tales,” Spooky stories at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial. Hours are 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Source: Thomas Wolfe Memorial Online
Written by: Connie Limon. For more vacation ideas visit http://smalldogs2.com/VacationIdeas For a variety of FREE reprint articles and special topic articles rarely found elsewhere visit Camelot Articles at http://www.camelotarticles.com