John Steinbeck’s “Little Fishing Place” Is Up for Sale at $17.9 Million

The cozy waterfront property on Long Island was used by the novelist for summer retreats

John Steinbeck Sag Harbor home
John Steinbeck's writer's retreat in Sag Harbor on Long Island is on the market.
Gavin Zeigler/Sotheby’s International Realty

Need a writer’s retreat? Look to John Steinbeck for help. And then open your bank account.

The Nobel Prize-winning author of Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden once owned a 1.8-acre waterfront property in Sag Harbor, N.Y. that can now be yours for a mere $17.9 million. Featuring a two-bedroom main house, guest cottage, pool, 60-foot dock and a “Writing House” (a gazebo-like structure with windows on all sides), the property — now run by a trust set up by the late author and his third wife — is now available via Sotheby’s International Realty.

As the listing notes: “John and Elaine [Scott, wife] came to Sag Harbor and fell in love with a sun-drenched cottage, tucked away in the trees on a bluff. His newly found ‘Eden’ was his latest in a line of treasured habitats that inspired him to say: ‘I look forward to Sag Harbor – after seeing you, of course. And do you know, journalism, even my version of it, gives me the crazy desire to go out to my little house on the point, to sharpen fifty pencils, and put out a yellow pad. Early in the morning to hear what the birds are saying and to pass the time of day with Angel and then hitch up my chair to my writing board and to set down the words – ‘Once upon a time….’”

John Steinbeck's writing home in Sag Harbor
John Steinbeck’s writing home in Sag Harbor
MTmoney / Wiki Creative Commons

Though most of Steinbeck’s work takes place in California, the author (who passed away during the 1968 flu epidemic) spent his summer at this waterfront cottage and also maintained a residence in NYC’s Upper East Side.

As reported by The New York Times, he called the Sag Harbor home “my little fishing place” in his book Travels with Charley.

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