Suffolk County has been the home of many literary giants. The number is unusual for any area. It includes Walt Whitman, James Fenimore Cooper, Kurt Vonnegut, James Jones, Truman Capote, Betty Friedan, Edward Albee, E.L. Doctorow, Joseph Heller, Lanford Wilson, Joe Pintauro, Terence McNally, Colson Whitehead, Peter Matthiessen—and John Steinbeck.
And now, you can get an extraordinary insight into Steinbeck.
The house in Sag Harbor in which Steinbeck and his wife, Elaine, lived has been preserved. That’s thanks to donations gathered by the Sag Harbor Partnership, participation by The Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas (Elaine’s alma mater), $750,000 from the State of New York, $11.2 million from the Community Preservation Fund of the Town of Southampton, and individual contributions from residents of Sag Harbor.
You can, for free, go on Saturday tours that take in the 1.8-acre property overlooking Sag Harbor Cove and, on “Holiday Open House Weekends,” visit inside the house as well.
Among the many features on the property is Steinbeck’s little and charming six-sided gazebo, his writing studio. He named it Joyous Garde, after Sir Lancelot’s castle in the legend of King Arthur.
My wife and I happily took the tour on Memorial Day weekend.
Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in Literature and also the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his renowned and important novel The Grapes of Wrath. Among the many other books Steinbeck authored were East of Eden, Of Mice and Men, The Pearl, The Red Pony, The Winter of Our Discontent, Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row and Travels with Charley: In Search of America—which begins in Sag Harbor.
He spent time with local friends in Sag Harbor Village, which in recent years has featured the John Steinbeck Waterfront Park.
He was a founder and honorary chairman in the 1960s of Sag Harbor’s Old Whalers Festival (now known as HarborFest). We lived in Sayville back then, and as a reporter for the daily Long Island Press, I went to Sag Harbor and interviewed Steinbeck on a festival day.
Steinbeck and Elaine lived in the Sag Harbor house from 1955 until his death in 1968. Elaine continued to use the house until her passing in 2003.
Our docent for the tour was Lori Raimondo, highly knowledgeable about Steinbeck. Fortunate that it was a holiday weekend, we were able to go inside the house, where she explained how, when settling in Sag Harbor, Steinbeck considered it reminiscent of Monterey, California, where he had earlier lived.
Monterey, on the Monterey Peninsula along the Pacific Ocean about 115 miles south of San Francisco, was a working-class waterfront town much like Sag Harbor in those days.
He also maintained a residence on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Raimondo said Steinbeck first noticed the house while looking at another nearby property and was told it was not for sale. However, he walked over and knocked on the door, and the couple who owned it said they were just putting it on the market.
Inside the house, Steinbeck’s creativity—and humor—were immediately apparent. Raimondo pointed out a mobile hanging in the living room which, she noted, Steinbeck constructed from the spokes of an umbrella. Adjacent to it was a cozy kitchen area.
A main feature in the living room is a fireplace made with large stones, especially imposing in the context of the small house. Originally, said Raimondo, a collection of rifles hung above the fireplace, and she showed photographs from when they were there.
Along a hallway leading to a bedroom were many photographs, including one of Steinbeck receiving the Nobel Prize. Up what is now a metal circular staircase, which replaced a ladder, was a loft for Steinbeck’s two sons, Thomas and John.
Outside, we first visited a small workshop building which, Raimondo explained, Steinbeck originally thought he could use for writing. But he found there were too many diversions there to provide the setting best suited for his work.
The workshop remains loaded with a variety of tools, some stored in marked drawers. I was surprised to see that a drawer for pliers was labeled “plyers.” Perhaps someone who worked for Steinbeck misspelled the word. It would be very surprising, I thought, if the great writer himself had made the spelling error.
Then it was on to the simple Joyous Garde. It fit only a small desk and chair. Through its windows was a serene view of the waters of Sag Harbor Cove—a tranquil place for Steinbeck to write.
We also walked to where Steinbeck had docked his boat. Raimondo pointed out a flagpole and noted that somewhere on the property lies the burial place of Charley, the poodle who accompanied Steinbeck in his famous travel memoir Travels with Charley: In Search of America.
To arrange a tour, visit:
https://www.steinbeckhouse.org/visit
The page is headed “ABOUT VISITING STEINBECK HOUSE.”
It states: “The public is invited to visit the Steinbeck House by making a reservation at least 24 hours in advance.” A reservation link is provided. “Visits are free, but reservations are required!”
“There are two options for visiting,” the website explains. One is a “Regular Saturday Visit” on scheduled tour dates. The other is “Holiday Open House Weekends,” during which both the grounds and the home are open on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The next open-house weekends are Labor Day and Columbus Day weekends.
The website also notes: “No parking is permitted on the immediate roads at any time. This is a quiet residential area and parking is extremely limited.” Travel and parking directions are sent before the tour.
Kudos must be given to Kathryn Szoka, co-owner of Canio’s Books in Sag Harbor, for spearheading the preservation effort.
Take the tour. It is immensely worthwhile.