Literary America
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Thomas Wolfe

Asheville (“Altamont”), NORTH CAROLINA

  • Photo of the “Old Kentucky Home,” known as “Dixieland” in Look Homeward, Angel.
    The “Old Kentucky Home,” known as “Dixieland” in Look Homeward, Angel. The “dirty yellow” house was Julia Wolfe’s foray into the hospitality industry, for which she was ill suited. Young Wolfe was shuffled from room to room according to availability. In the foreground are his sizeable shoes. — Asheville, North Carolina
  • Photo of Great Smoky Mountains — Asheville, North Carolina
    Pent up behind mountains: Growing up in Asheville, Max Perkins wrote, “a boy of Wolfe’s imagination imprisoned there could think that what was beyond was all wonderful.” And yet it is the portrait he created of Asheville that is the greatest wonder. Great Smoky Mountains — Asheville, North Carolina
  • Photo of “Filming ‘Conquest of Canaan’ movie at Pack Square, Asheville, NC, 1921” [Herbert Pelton, Photographer].
    W.O.’s marble shop and the Pack Library were on this busy square. Photograph: “Filming ‘Conquest of Canaan’ movie at Pack Square, Asheville, NC, 1921” [Herbert Pelton, Photographer]. Wolfe had nothing to do with the movie. But don’t overlook the “Welcome” sign on the building across the square—a hero’s welcome Wolfe never received. — Asheville, North Carolina
  • Photo of the angel in a cemetery in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
    W.O’s angel actually made it further out of Asheville than Thomas Wolfe did in death. The angel is in a cemetery in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Wolfe was buried in Riverside Cemetery, Asheville. — Hendersonville, North Carolina

    “The angels...were frozen in hard marble silence, and at a distance life awoke…Yet, as he stood for the last time by the angels of his father’s porch, it seemed as if the Square were already far and lost; or, I should say, he was like a man who stands upon a hill above the town he has left, yet does not say ‘The town is near,’ but turns his eyes upon the distant soaring ranges.”
    — Thomas Wolfe
    Look Homeward, Angel, 1929

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Appendix :: Literary Destinations

Thomas Wolfe

(1900-1938)

The Thomas Wolfe Memorial
52 North Market Street
Asheville, NC 28801
Phone: (828) 253-8304
Website: wolfememorial.com

From Cradle to Grave: Walking in Thomas Wolfe’s Shoes
Walking Tour Guide (PDF)

The Angel at Oakdale Cemetery
Hendersonville, NC

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A Journey Through Literary America

A Journey Through Literary America

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Description

Explore the fascinating stories of 26 great American authors with images of the places that inspired them to write. It’s the perfect gift for book lovers. With over 140 photographs throughout, the images add mood and dimension to the writing – and they are often shockingly close to what the featured authors described in their own words. Lushly illustrated, and beautifully designed, the book is as much of a pleasure to look at as it is to read.

This is a volume for the literary enthusiast, the armchair traveler or the intrepid reader. It is a handsome and beautifully illustrated companion for those who seek to learn more about authors they have read and those who wish to discover new writers.

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Appendix :: Literary Destinations

Sherwood Anderson • Raymond Carver • Willa Cather • James Fenimore Cooper • Rita Dove • Ralph Waldo Emerson • William Faulkner • Richard Ford • Robert Frost • Nathaniel Hawthorne • Ernest Hemingway • Langston Hughes • Washington Irving • Robinson Jeffers • Sinclair Lewis • Herman Melville • Henry Miller • Toni Morrison • Flannery O’Connor • E. Annie Proulx • Philip Roth • John Steinbeck • Wallace Stegner • Henry David Thoreau • John Updike • Thomas Wolfe
William Faulkner
Sinclair Lewis