For Sale: JD Salinger’s Writing Retreat

Anyone wanting to create a life as a recluse writer could do worse than Catcher in the Rye author JD Salinger’s New Hampshire estate, currently being offered at $589,000. From Top Ten Real Estate Deals:

The Cornish home where Salinger lived and wrote from the 1950s to the 1980s is now for sale. Cottage-like, charming and ensconced in a lush setting of nature on a quiet road in his quest for privacy, Salinger also bought the land on the other side of the road, ensuring that no other house could be built whose owners could gaze into his personal life. It’s a secluded 12 acres with plantings of foliage and flowers around trees, paths, woodland trails and green lawn with dappled sunlight. There is also a creek and view of Mt. Ascutney over a valley of treetops. The 2,900-square-foot home blends seamlessly with the surrounding woodland and consists of four bedrooms, two baths, a combined family room-kitchen with fireplace, large living room with beamed ceilings and an apartment above the garage where Salinger would escape during marital conflicts. Another interesting thing about the house is the tunnel that connects the basement of the house with the basement of the garage, the purpose of which was never discovered. 

Salinger died in 2010 at age 91. If you feel like it’s been a while since you heard anything about him, get ready for the silence to end.

During his years of seclusion in New Hampshire, Salinger continued to write, but never published, a series of books that expanded on the lives of some of his most popular characters, including The Catcher in the Rye. Before he died, Salinger carefully laid out a directive in his will for a publication schedule of the books beginning in 2015.