William Cullen Bryant Homestead Off Route 112 Cummington, MA
413-634-2244 Open last Friday in June through Labor Day for guided
tours, Friday - Sunday and Monday Holidays, 1 pm - 5pm. After Labor Day
through Columbus Day, open weekends and holidays. Admission fee for non
members.
illiam Cullen Bryant, lines from whose "Thanatopsis" lend the title
to
this essay, started writing poetry in his teens and at length became
regarded as one of America’s most important poets throughout the
mid-1800s. A Williams College educated lawyer and journalist, he is also
one of the founders of the Republican Party. The WCB Homestead, on 465
acres in the Hampshire Hills, was originally a one-and-one-half story
Dutch Colonial built in 1783 by Bryant’s grandfather. The poet eventually
moved back and bought the property and as he grew more prosperous,
eventually becoming editor of The New York Evening Post, he set about
ambitiously constructing, transforming the once humble farm, adding
wings on either side, and eventually raising the whole house, adding a
new lower floor and constructing 26 rooms. The entrance to the site is
framed by sugar maples planted by the young poet and his brothers. The
18-year old "Cullen," as he was known, wrote "Thanatopsis," a favorite
American "moral" poem here, along with some of his most renowned work. The house is decorated and furnished precisely as it was during the
poet’s life. The Homestead remains a distinct source of inspiration for
poets of today.
William Cullen Bryant Homestead
illiam Cullen Bryant, lines from whose "Thanatopsis" lend the title
to
this essay, started writing poetry in his teens and at length became
regarded as one of America’s most important poets throughout the
mid-1800s. A Williams College educated lawyer and journalist, he is also
one of the founders of the Republican Party. The WCB Homestead, on 465
acres in the Hampshire Hills, was originally a one-and-one-half story
Dutch Colonial built in 1783 by Bryant’s grandfather. The poet eventually
moved back and bought the property and as he grew more prosperous,
eventually becoming editor of The New York Evening Post, he set about
ambitiously constructing, transforming the once humble farm, adding
wings on either side, and eventually raising the whole house, adding a
new lower floor and constructing 26 rooms. The entrance to the site is
framed by sugar maples planted by the young poet and his brothers. The
18-year old "Cullen," as he was known, wrote "Thanatopsis," a favorite
American "moral" poem here, along with some of his most renowned work. The house is decorated and furnished precisely as it was during the
poet’s life. The Homestead remains a distinct source of inspiration for
poets of today.
