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In 1930, Willam Faulkner purchased what was then known as "The Bailey Place," a large primitive Greek Revival house that pre-dated the Civil War standing on four acres of cedars and hardwoods. He was fascinated with its history, knowing that it had been built by a Colonel Sheegog from Tennessee who settled in Oxford when it was a tiny frontier settlement of the 1840's. Faulkner renamed it Rowan Oak in 1931. He optioned the surrounding acreage and settled in with his wife, Estelle, and her two children from a previous marriage, Malcolm and Victoria. Within a few years his own daughter, Jill, was born. Rowan Oak was the family home of the Faulkners until 1962, the year of Faulkner's death. In 1972, Jill Faulkner Summers sold the house to The University of Mississippi so it could become a place for people from all over the world to learn about her father's work. (from A Visitor's Guide to Rowan Oak, The University of Mississippi and the Oxford Tourism Council)
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