Rowan Oak is a historic staple of the Oxford community. The property, owned by the University of Mississippi and in collaboration with the University Museum, is best known as the location where Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner wrote award-winning novels. The house now serves as a monument to his work and his legacy.
Since 1999, Rowan Oak curator William Griffith has worked to preserve the primitive Greek Revival home and 33 acres it rests upon.
Griffith is one of two workers employed at Rowan Oak; the curator shared some of the responsibilities he has in keeping things running inside of the literary home and maintaining the grounds.
“It’s all encompassing,” Griffith said. “I do everything from picking up trash to installing exhibits to minor repair work, yard work and trail work.”
Griffith attended graduate school in Illinois before making the move to Mississippi in the early 1990s.
“This was my first job, and I didn’t know I was going to stay, but I ended up marrying a Southerner and didn’t know you couldn’t leave,” Griffith said. “I got this job, and I’ve never really been able to get ahead of it into a place where I felt comfortable leaving.”
While a quaint occupation in many ways, no job is without its share of bumps in the road. Griffith explained how his job was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, as the property was closed to the public from March 2020 until August 2021.
“It was rough being closed that long,” Griffith said. “I got a lot done in the house and around the house, but I couldn’t let anybody in. I was out here all day, many days, just working and there was plenty to do, and I wasn’t interrupted.”
Griffith saw Rowan Oak come back to life once things returned to normal. People from all over the world come to visit the site, giving Griffith a unique opportunity to experience people’s differing levels of knowledge about Faulkner.
According to the Rowan Oak website, Faulkner named the property after two trees — the rowan tree of Scotland to symbolize peace and security and the live oak of America to represent strength and solitude — but neither plant has ever flourished on the property.
On a tour of the house, guests can explore a dozen rooms in which Faulkner and his family lived, including the writer’s bedroom, office and parlor. Visitors are also welcome to tour the grounds and venture onto the Bailey Woods Trail, which links the property to the University Museum.
The grounds include servant’s quarters, constructed by Faulkner in 1931, a European-inspired English knot garden and a sunken patio where the novelist’s daughter was married, among other landmarks, according to the Rowan Oak website.
“Some people come in and are big fans of Faulkner, and some come in and have never heard of William Faulkner,” Griffith said. “If they didn’t know anything about Faulkner when they got here, then they certainly do when they leave.”
Griffith said this teaching aspect is what fuels his passion for his work.
“I think it’s people’s reaction they get when they visit. They really are intrigued and fascinated by it,” Griffith said. “And part of it is that it’s rewarding. It’s good work.”
