Literary Long Island: 4 sites to visit this fall

The Walt Whitman Birthplace in West Hills may be the best known, but Long Island is home to many literary sites connected to the lives of notable scribes. Here are four to check out this fall:

Jupiter Hammon

Hammon, who wrote poetry and essays while living in slavery at Joseph Lloyd Manor, has long been celebrated as the first published Black American poet. Five years ago, Preservation Long Island launched the Jupiter Hammon Project. Visitors to the Lloyd Harbor estate can now see “a more critical interpretation of Joseph Lloyd Manor that centers the stories of Jupiter Hammon and other people enslaved by the Lloyds,” said education director Andrew Tharler.

Tharler said visitors can listen to recitations of Hammon’s poetry on themes such as liberty, emancipation and justice. They can also see the quarters for enslaved people, where Hammon composed his groundbreaking literature.

The Jupiter Hammon Project/Joseph Lloyd Manor, 1 Lloyd Lane, Lloyd Harbor. Guided tours available on Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at preservationlongisland.org/tours. Admission is free on Oct. 9, when Black Poetry Day and Jupiter Hammon’s 313th birthday will be celebrated.

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Burnett, who lived her final years in Plandome, was a wildly successful children’s novelist in her time. She’s perhaps best known for the classic screen adaptations of works such as “Little Lord Fauntleroy” (1936); Shirley Temple’s “The Little Princess” (1939), based on Burnett’s “A Little Princess”; and the oft-filmed “The Secret Garden.”

Want to learn more about the woman behind those childhood classics? The History Center at the Manhasset Public Library contains Burnett’s collected works, including 19th-century first editions, photographs and the author’s letters, according to library officials.

Burnett-ophiles can also pay homage to the British-born writer, who died in 1924, at her gravesite in the Roslyn Cemetery. For extra credit, visit the graves of editor and “Thanatopsis” poet William Cullen Bryant and Christopher Morley, whose bestseller “Kitty Foyle” became a 1940 film classic.

The History Center at the Manhasset Public Library, 30 Onderdonk Ave., Manhasset. Visit bit.ly/4dc9Xmy or call 516-627-2300 for hours.

Roslyn Cemetery, Route 25A, Greenvale. Open to the public.

John Steinbeck

When Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, he was living in the 1,200-square-foot Sag Harbor cottage he and his wife, Elaine, had purchased in 1955. Last year, Southampton Town, in collaboration with the nonprofit Sag Harbor Partnership, purchased the Steinbeck House from his heirs and preserved it as a writers’ retreat.

On Saturdays, fans can visit the grounds and see the author’s hexagonal writing studio, where he wrote his final novels, “Travels with Charley: In Search of America” and “The Winter of Our Discontent.” House tours are offered on select holiday weekends.

The Steinbeck House grounds in Sag Harbor are open to the public on select Saturdays; a holiday open house will be held Oct. 12-14. Admission is free but reservations are required 24 hours in advance. Reservations can be made at steinbeckhouse.org. Directions are provided after registration.