Carl Sandburg Home

On Saturday afternoon of last week, we visited the Carl Sandburg Home, a National Historic Site, in Flat Rock, NC.

His wife, Lilian "Paula" Sandburg, was one of the outstanding pioneers of the American dairy goat industry. While her husband dedicated himself to a long literary career, Mrs. Sandburg pursued an ambition to raise and breed championship dairy goats. She and Carl's youngest daughter, Helga, established the Connemara Farms Goat Dairy in 1945 in Flat Rock. They lived and worked this for for 22 years until Carl's death in 1967. They processed and bottled milk for sale on the farm using quart-size cardboard bottles that had the "Connemara Farms" caps. They sold them to local dairies and individuals. The production and sale of milk were secondary to Mrs. Sandburg, whose primary goal was raising champion milk-producing dairy goat stock. Connemara Farms Dairy consisted of three breeds of dairy goats, Saanan, Toggenburg and Nubian. To this day, they continue breeding using the Connemara herd name and have Nubians, Saanans and Toggenburgs on the farm. In recognition of Sandburg's commitment and the positive experience of dairy goats provided to the public through the National Park Service, the ADGA provides annually the linear appraisal program to the Connemara herd free of charge.