Steepletop

It's all about having a bright, modern kitchen.

Edna St. Vincent Millay followed the path of a million authors and artists before her when she escaped the noise and confusion of NYC and headed to the solitude of the woods.  She choose the woods of New York State and a town called Austerlitz to make her home in a farmhouse on 600 acre blueberry farm.  

She named the farm Steepletop after the pink wildflowers that grew everywhere and even though she did build a secluded writing cabin, there was always a steady stream of friends pouring in and lots of parties to take advantage of her grown up playground.

Steepletop is just barely located in New York, right across the border from the Berkshires (and Edith Wharton’s home) and technically located in the Taconics.  Edna and her husband, Eugen got to work on the property right away and build a tennis court, pool (perfect for skinny dipping), outdoor bar, rose and vegetable gardens, and a barn with plans purchased from Sears. There was also a roomy guest house across the drive.

Like Edith Wharton, Edna created an “inner sanctum” that was apparently off limits to anyone but her.  She kept her own bedroom, a large bath, and a work room that led to her personal library.
She also had two pianos in the living room, one for herself and one for a guest.  

Despite Edna’s achievements as a writer, Ladies Home Journal decided to remodel Steepletop’s kitchen and use it as a feature in the magazine in 1948.  While I was researching the kitchen remodel I stumbled upon Writer’s Houses, Where Stories Live, a superb website started A.N. Devers but with entries from many authors .  

Megan Mayhew Bergman was lucky enough to visit Millay’s retreat last February.  She describes the property as authentic, still holding clues to Millay’s penchant for perfume, roses and gin.  The remodeled kitchen is crammed full of floral plates and knick knacks, and became a “mid-century electrified dream” thanks to the Ladies Home Journal.  There is an awesome slideshow of the ‘modern’ kitchen at www.thekitchn.com and I must admit I far prefer the before pictures.  After reading about Edna for a few days I already know she had zero interest in streamlining her domestic duties or decorating her kitchen.

Bergman also describes some of the reasons that Edna might have wanted to be far from prying eyes, including a morphine addiction, chronic pain, intestinal problems and alcoholism.  
Edna’s sister, Norma, lived in the house 25 years after Edna’s died after falling down a flight of stairs with a glass of wine in her hand.  She was only 58 years old.  

Norma appreciated Edna’s connection to Steepltop and kept the house just as it was.   An article for the AP by Michael Virtanen says that the house looks as if Edna just stepped out for a minute.

Behind the house there is a poetry trail, dotted with Millay’s poems and leading to her gravestone, next her husbands, two simple stones in the frozen earth that mark the place that she finally found peace.