Vagabondia Castle

Near this spot in 1869 was the early Knoxville

home of Frances Hodgson Burnett, the English-

born author of The Secret Garden, Sarah Crewe, and

Little Lord Fauntleroy, who moved to Knoxville with

her family when she was 15.  When Frances was 20, her

widowed mother died here, leaving her children alone in

the riverside house where they established an informal

community of musicians and artists they called

"Vagabondia Castle."

Her son Vivian later described it:  "A rather

roomy but dilapidated house with a backyard

running down to the Tennessee River."

As Vagabondia Castle, it became the very center of

an enthusiastic group of youngsters who were glad to

think of themselves as Bohemians...."  Burnett's first

novel, Vagabondia, drew its spiritual setting from

her experiences here.  Some of Burnett's

later stories featured East Tennessee settings.

• knoxville
• frances hodgson burnett
• vagabondia
• the secret garden
• little lord fauntleroy
• tennessee river