In celebration of Carl and Lilian Sandburg’s 59-year love story, The Friends of Carl Sandburg are hosting a special Four Seasons Chamber Orchestra concert of love in homage to Lilian. Through a grant from the Arts County of Henderson County to The Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara, the concert will be held Sunday, May 21, 2023, 3pm at Grace Lutheran Church, 1245 6th Ave West, Hendersonville, NC. Conductor Eric Scheider will present the program, “Dream Counterpoint: The Sandburgs in Love” to include music from J.S. Bach’s Cantata #208 (“Live, Sun of the Earth,” “Sheep May Safely Graze,” “Loveliest Glances”); Florence Price’s Folksongs in Counterpoint (“Oh My Darlin’ Clementine,” “Drink to Me with Thine Own Eyes,” “Shortnin’ Bread”), and Richard Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll. The concert free with donations welcomed at the door.

The 2023 Governor’s Volunteer Service Award of the North Carolina Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service was presented to The Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara organization on April 24th. Accepting the Certificate of Recognition is Friends President, Dallas Owens along with the Board of Directors. Polly Angelakis, Superintendent of the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site and Brandon Baird, Award Coordinator of the Community Foundation of Henderson County, presented the award.

The Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara, Inc. (FOCS) is an all-volunteer,  501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports the National Park Service to promote, protect and preserve the legacy of Carl Sandburg. Click the video to hear more about the Friends, our mission, and how you can become a Friend, or (Click to read more) …

Carl Sandburg, "The Poet of the People"

Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg was widely regarded as “a major figure in contemporary literature”, especially for volumes of his collected verse, including Chicago Poems (1916), Cornhuskers (1918), and Smoke and Steel (1920). He enjoyed “unrivaled appeal as a poet in his day, perhaps because the breadth of his experiences connected him with so many strands of American life”, and at his death in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson observed that “Carl Sandburg was more than the voice of America, more than the poet of its strength and genius. He was America.

 

To learn more about Carl Sandburg, his works, and his family, click here to be directed to the National Park Service website.

Our many supporters both individuals and businesses who are committed to the Friends’ mission. They, through farsightedness and generosity, seek to ensure that the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site will continue to be available for future generations.

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