The Mystique of Tor House, Robinson Jeffers' Labor of Love

First published Spring 2009, Monterey County Herald, Adventures Magazine, by Erin Gafill

My grandmother watched Robinson Jeffers gather stones from the beach below Carmel Point for his tower at Tor House. She was a child then, it was 1920, and the world was a simpler place.
Tor House. Where epic poet Robinson Jeffers wrote his most acclaimed works, reared his family, and took refuge from sorrow, loss, and unwanted notoriety.

Gershin played piano here. Edna St. Vincent Millay was a guest as were Langston Hughes, Charles Lindbergh, Charlie Chaplin. A sanctuary of family life, classroom for his twin boys Garth and Donnan, the home was also a hub for Carmel’s early bohemians.
Jeffers and his wife Una came to Carmel in 1913 between the tragic death of their first–born daughter Maeve and the fatal stroke of Jeffers’ father. And Una was married to another man when Jeffers and she met. Their “love triangle” made the front page of the Los Angeles Times. Carmel was to be a refuge from wagging tongues and a haven from grief.

Scenic Drive was just a dirt path then bounded by scrub, rock and sand. On misty mornings Robinson and Una and their bulldog Billie would walk Carmel Point and picnic amongst the rocks. There were no homes there then, just a nine hole golf course populated by cows, sheep, and a flock of wild geese. Jeffers called it “their inevitable place.”

In 1918 Jeffers came into money and bought five acres on the Point, planted the first of thousands of trees, and began work on the Tudor-style cottage that was to be their home. Working side-by-side with the mason, Jeffers found he could not just write but build, that “his fingers had the art to make stone love stone.”

He called their home Tor House after the craggy knoll – or “tor” – upon which it stood and christened the cornerstone with wine, milk, and honey.

The builders left but Jeffers carried on the work alone, bringing stones up from the beach, adding a seawall, garage, dining hall, and a second wing for his growing boys.

In 1920 Jeffers began work on Hawk Tower as a gift for Una using a block and tackle system as the ancient Egyptians had done. By 1924 stone by stone and word by word he had completed the tower and found a publisher for his works. Critics compared him to Dante and Homer. With new celebrity came loss of privacy. He doubled the height of the seawall facing Scenic.

The tower began as a sanctuary for Una, became a playground for their boys, and continues to be a place to find inspiration. Complete with a dungeon, secret staircase, and battlements it overlooks the cottage and an old world garden, paths and walls adorned with architectural relics and scavenged materials gathered from the Jeffers’ travels. Look closely and you will find Big Sur jade, Hawaiian lava, even a stone from Tintagel, King Arthur’s storied castle in Cornwall.
Jeffers life was rooted in place, in passion, in poetry. Tor House embodies all three, with an unexpected sense of play. Literary quotes and allusions hide behind ceiling beams and above doorways, in secret cupboards and forgotten niches.

Jeffers outlived Una by a decade, passing away in 1962 on the morning of a rare winter storm that left two inches of snow on Carmel beach. In the 70’s a fund was created to purchase the property and maintain Jeffers’ literary legacy. Family members still return for the annual garden party the first Sunday in May.

Today the home, tower and gardens are open to the public. Breathing in the salt air of the sea in the shadow of Una’s tower, it seems as the poet wrote: “They made their dreams for themselves.”

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SIDEBAR

Tor House & Hawk Tower are located at Carmel Point 26304 Ocean View Avenue just south of Carmel Village. The tower and grounds face Scenic Drive and are bounded by Stewart Way and Ocean view.

Tours are offered every Friday and Saturday on the hour beginning at 10AM. Groups are limited to six with no one under the age of 12 permitted. The tax-deductible free is $7 adults, $4 college students, and $2 for high school students. Reservations are highly recommended. For reservations or more information call Tor House Foundation at 831/624-1813 or go to www.torhouse.org.