The Upstate New York Homes of 7 Legendary American Authors

The footpaths of American literary history wind up and down the regions of Upstate New York. This list reveals the places where seven of our greatest literary giants lived or spent time at in the Upstate region.

The names included here read like a Writer's Hall of Fame. Among them are James Fenimore Cooper, who lived, wrote, died, and was buried in the tiny Upstate village that was founded and named by his father, Judge William Cooper. Edna St. Vincent Millay, who was the first female to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, lived for many years in her hilltop home in the Taconic Mountains near the Massachusetts border. Mark Twain, whose wife was from Elmira, lived there for many years and wrote "Huckleberry Finn" in the little octagonal writer's cottage on the property. Both his home and the writer's cottage are open to the public.

Washington Irving, the "Father of American Literature," owned a splendid mansion in the Hudson Valley. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the area today.  Robert Louis Stevenson lived in Upstate New York only briefly. The small Adirondack cottage where he recovered from tuberculosis is now a museum to him.

There are several others on this list. Each entry has a link to the home where you can find visiting hours and information.