Conrad Aiken, Poet and Man of Letters, was born in Savannah on August 5, 1889, and lived at No. 228 East Oglethorpe Avenue until 1901. Conrad Potter Aiken was born in Savannah, Georgia, on August 5, 1889, the eldest of four children of a prominent doctor from New York, William Aiken. The author's mother, Anna, was the daughter of a prominent Massachusetts Unitarian minister. When Aiken was eleven, Aiken's father killed his wife and then shot himself—without any warning. The young Aiken was sent to live with an aunt in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He later attended Harvard University, where he met the young T. S. Eliot, who became a lifelong friend and literary associate.
Most of his writing career was divided between Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Rye, England. In 1962 he returned to Savannah to live and write in the adjoining house, No. 230 until his death August 17, 1973. Of his home here he wrote: "Born in that most magical of cities, Savannah, I was allowed to run wild in that earthly paradise until I was nine; ideal for the boy who early decided he wanted to write".
Though he wrote novels, short stories and critical essays, his first love was poetry. His work earned many awards including the Pulitzer Prize (1930) for Selected Poems, l National Book Award (1954), and the National medal of literature (1969). He was a member of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and held the Chair of Poetry of the Library of Congress (1950 to 1952).
Over a period of nearly fifty years Conrad Aiken published poems, essays, short stories, novels, and literary criticism. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Selected Poems (1929) and a National Book Award for Collected Poems (1953). His literary autobiography, Ushant, reveals the international nature of his complex life and literary career.
Before he died Aiken had a marble bench erected next to his parents' graves in Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery. It contained two epitaphs: "Give my love to the world" and "Cosmos Mariner Destination Unknown."
Six months before Aiken's death on August 17, 1973, Governor Jimmy Carter appointed him poet laureate of the state of Georgia. In front of the house on Oglethorpe Avenue, a historical marker describes Conrad Aiken's life and work.
|
 Lunchtime Cache  No Poison Plants Nearby  No Thorns
 Cache In - Trash Out!  Dogs Allowed
 Available year-round  Bicycles permitted on paths  Less than 500 ft. from car to cache
 Accessible in Winter
 Beware of Muggles!  Bring a pen or pencil  Historic Site
|
|
|
|
Use extreme caution retrieving this cache. It is located between the Savannah Fire Department and the Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police Department Barracks. The cache does not have a guardian angel looking over it anymore, since that geocacher has moved out of the immediate neighborhood (Thank You Froggyhed for looking after this cache). The cache is a green bison container. Please make that it is well hidden when you are done so that Park and Tree workers do not abscond with it!
Click To Rate This Cache
