I love visiting historic homes, particularly those of writers. It is interesting, sometimes fascinating, to see their environment and imagine them living and working in the space. There’s a toss-up in my memory about my first historic house visit. It’s either Ellwood House in Dekalb, Illinois (home of “barbed wire entrepreneur” Isaac L. Ellwood) or Arbor Lodge in Nebraska City, Nebraska (home of Arbor Day founder Julius Sterling Morton [the high school I attended in Cicero, IL is named for him]). Wandering through historic homes instilled a love of old architecture and a fascination with history.

In my recent post on visiting the Nyack Public Library, I mentioned also seeing writer Carson McCullers’ home, which is a few blocks away. This is not a house museum that’s open to the public, but it was still an exciting experience to walk around the property to get a sense of the materiality of her life through the place she chose to live, both the house and the town.

I had buddy read McCuller’s novel Reflections in a Golden Eye with friends Emily and Kate. Learning that the author lived just a short drive away, we thought it would be a fun Biblio Adventure to discuss the novel in Nyack, which we did over lunch at the Art Cafe. The cafe is next to the library (59 S Broadway), and McCullers’ home (131 S Broadway) is a 5-minute walk, just 0.2 miles.

The house was built in 1880. McCullers lived here from 1944 or 1945 until she died in 1967. With Tennessee Williams’s advice and financial assistance, McCullers divided the single-family home into apartments to help make ends meet. Her psychiatrist and friend/paramour, Dr. Mary E. Mercer, purchased the house in 1968 and, upon her death at 101 in 2013, gifted it to Columbus State University in Georgia. McCullers was born in Columbus, GA, and the university holds the bulk of her archives, manages her childhood home, and runs the Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians there.

In 2006, the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places. If you’d like to learn more about the house and its history, read its National Registration of Historic Places registration form. We visited on April 10, 2024, and the house seemed unoccupied, but the grounds were being maintained.

The marker reads:

CARSON McCULLERS
1917-1967
Carson McCullers, writer and dramatist, made this house her home from 1945 to her death on September 29, 1967. Born in Columbus, Ga. on February 19, 1917, she achieved fame with The Heart is a Lonely Hunter 1940 and Reflections in a Golden Eye 1941. In this house she completed The Member of the Wedding 1946, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe 1951, Clock Without Hands 1961, and other plays, short stories, poetry and autobiographical works.
“They are the we of me.”

Over the years, the building has had some additions that have thrown off its balance. What is now the front entrance, pictured above, was originally a side hall entrance.

Some of the more well-known people McCullers hosted here include Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and Isak Dinesen.

The long wrap-around porch and tall windows are two attractive features.

Built-in porch seating on the side of the house.

There is another built-in seat on the front porch. The house was originally a parsonage for the church across the street.

The church across the street is St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Around 1910, the house was expanded, and in the 1950s, the garage was added.

Buzzers and bells have given way to texting one’s arrival.

Since it appeared no one currently occupied the property, we walked around the house to check out the backyard. I stopped and looked back—that’s Kate standing at the front of the house, which shows how much the land slopes down toward the river.

I took this photo from the same spot as the one above. That’s Emily and a view of the yard, with the Hudson River in the background.

Looking up at the back of the house, that screened porch would be nice for sleeping on hot, pre-air-conditioned nights.

A few more architectural shots of the back/side of the house. Notice the two styles of siding. One is straight, the other wavey.

After admiring the house, we drove to the Oak Hill Cemetery to find McCullers’ plot to pay our respects.

McCullers is buried on this hill.

She was laid to rest next to her mother, Marguerite Waters.

Instead of ending this post at the cemetery, here’s an “usie” of me, Emily, and Kate in front of the Nyack Public Library, showing our copies of Reflections in a Golden Eye. We all enjoyed the novel—it’s intense and trippy—and look forward to reading more of McCullers’s work.

Nyack is a delightful town. We also visited two bookstores: one new, Big Red Books, and one used, Pickwick Book Shop. The painter Edward Hopper also lived in Nyack, and his house and studio are open to the public.

Carson McCullers’ house address is 131 S Broadway, Nyack, NY.