The James Merrill House is a 19th-century house at 107 Water Street in

Stonington Borough Stonington is a borough (Connecticut), borough and the town center of Stonington, Connecticut, referred to by locals as "The Borough". The population was 929 at the 2010 United States Census. The densely built Borough of Stonington occupies a po ...

in southeastern Connecticut, formerly owned by poet

James Merrill James Ingram Merrill (March 3, 1926 – February 6, 1995) was an American poet. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1977 for ''Divine Comedies.'' His poetry falls into two distinct bodies of work: the polished and formalist lyri ...

. Upon his death in 1995, the house was kept by the village as a home for writers and scholars.

History

The American poet

and his partner David Jackson moved to the borough of Stonington, Connecticut, in 1954, purchasing a property at 107 Water Street. It had once been a nineteenth-century residential and commercial structure that had first served as a drug store and a residence for the owner's family. Merrill spent summers in Stonington borough until his death in 1995. Village life and the apartment itself inspired some of his most important work, including ''

The Changing Light at Sandover ''The Changing Light at Sandover'' is a 560-page epic poem by James Merrill (1926–1995). Sometimes described as a postmodern apocalyptic epic, the poem was published in three volumes from 1976 to 1980, and as one volume "with a new cod ...

'', his book-length epic poem based on Merrill's and Jackson's communications with the spirit world by means of a

Ouija board The ouija ( , ), also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the Latin alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along with various symbols and grap ...

in the turret dining room on the third floor. After James Merrill's death in 1995, the Stonington Village Improvement Association (SVIA) transformed the Jackson and Merrill apartments into a place for writers to live and work. A group of Stonington residents and friends of Merrill began a program that would make the apartment available, rent-free, to writers and scholars for academic-year residencies. The Merrill apartment looks much the way Merrill left it – the personally eclectic décor remains as it was two decades ago. In the years since Merrill's death, over thirty writers have used this space as a residence and retreat. The house is usually occupied by just one writer at a time, for stays of one month in fall and winter or three months during spring. The house was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on August 28, 2013 and designated a National Historic Landmark on October 31, 2016.

James Merrill House Writers in Residence

Eryn Green Eryn Green is an American poet who in 2013, while a graduate student at the University of Denver, won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition. His collection ''Eruv'' was published by Yale University Press in 2014. His second collection of po ...

:Peter Kline and Brittany Perham (December 2013 – January 2014) :Mieke Eerkens (November 2013) :Amy Beeder (October 2013) :Caitlin Doyle (September 2013) :

Dan O'Brien Daniel Dion O'Brien (born July 18, 1966) is an American former decathlete and Olympic gold medalist. He won the Olympic title in 1996, three consecutive world championships (1991, 1993, 1995), and set the world record in 1992. Early life O'Br ...

(June 2013) :James Reidel (2013 Spring) : Sally Ball (December 2012) :Gimbiya Kettering (November 2012) :Amy Greacen (October 2012) :Lydia Conklin (September 2012) :

Peter Filkins Peter Filkins is an American poet and literary translator. Filkins graduated from Williams College with a Bachelor of Arts and from Columbia University with a Master of Fine Arts degree. His poetry collections include the forthcoming ''Water / Musi ...

(2012 Spring) :

Will Schutt Will Schutt (born 1981 New York City) is the author of ''Westerly'' (Yale University Press, 2013), selected by Carl Phillips as the winner of the 2012 Yale Series of Younger Poets award. Life He is a graduate of Oberlin College and Hollins Unive ...

(2011 Fall) :

Jedediah Berry Jedediah Berry (born 1977) is an American writer. He is the author of a novel, ''The Manual of Detection'' (2009). Background and education Berry was born in Randolph, Vermont, and spent his childhood in Catskill, New York. He attended Bard Coll ...

(2011 Spring) :Josh Weil (2010 Fall) :Bruce Snider (2010 Spring) :

Cate Marvin Cate Marvin is an American poet. Life She graduated from Marlboro College, University of Houston, University of Iowa, and University of Cincinnati with a Ph.D. She has taught at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York and Columbi ...

(2009 Fall) :Ivy Pochoda (2009 Spring) :Piotr Gwiazda (2008 Fall) :Langdon Hammer (2008 Spring) :

Nancy Reisman Nancy Reisman (born 1961) is an American author. She teaches creative writing at Vanderbilt University. Biography Reisman received her M.F.A. from the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and her B.A. from Tu ...

(2007 Fall) : Rick Hilles (2007 Fall) :Anna Potter / Jacob Gamage (2007 Spring) :

Michael Snediker Michael D Snediker is a well-known poet and a scholar of American literature, poetics, and disability theory. He is Associate Professor of American Literature & Poetics at the University of Houston, before which he was a Queens National Scholar a ...

(2006 Fall) :Jason Zuzga (2005–2006) :

J.S. Marcus J. S. Marcus is an American novelist. His work appeared in '' Harper's'', ''The New York Review of Books'', and ''The Wall Street Journal,'' where he regularly writes about real estate and art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and ...

(2004–2005) :

Matthew Zapruder Matthew Zapruder (1967) is an American poet, editor, translator, and professor. His second poetry collection, ''The Pajamaist'', won the 2007 William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and was chosen by ''Library Journal'' ...

(2003 Spring) :Paul Merrill (2002 Fall) :

Sarah Gorham Sarah Gorham (born March 30, 1954) is an American poet, essayist, and publisher residing in Prospect, Kentucky. Background Gorham was educated at the Ecole D'Humanité, an international boarding school in Switzerland and received her MFA from t ...

(2002 Spring) :

Jeffrey Skinner Jeffrey Skinner is an American poet, writer, playwright, and emeritus professor in the Department of English at the University of Louisville. His most recent collection of poetry is ''Salt Water Amnesia'', (Ausable Press, 2005). Skinner is editor ...

(2002 Spring) :Molly McQuade (2001 Fall) :

Brigit Pegeen Kelly Brigit Pegeen Kelly (1951 – October 14, 2016) was an American poet and teacher. Born in Palo Alto, California, Kelly grew up in southern Indiana and lived much of her adult life in central Illinois. An intensely private woman, little is known ...

(2000–2001) :Michael Madonick (2000–2001) :Aidan Wasley (1999–2000) :

Ted Deppe Theodore "Ted" Deppe (born in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American poet and professor, author of books of poetry. His most well-known collection is ''Orpheus on the Red Line'' (Tupelo Press, 2009), and he has had his poems published in many literary ...

(1998–1999) :Annie Deppe (1998–1999) : Daniel Hall (1997–1998) :Scott Westrem (1996–1997) :Peter Hawkins (1995–1996)

Gallery

File:James Merrill House, Stonington, CT.jpg File:James Merrill House, Stonington, CT, 2.jpg File:James Merrill House, Stonington, CT, 3.jpg File:James Merrill House, Stonington, CT, 4.jpg

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merrill, James, House Literary museums in the United States Historic house museums in Connecticut Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in New London County, Connecticut LGBT places in the United States Houses in New London County, Connecticut National Historic Landmarks in Connecticut

History

James Merrill House Writers in Residence

Gallery

See also

References

External links