Malabar Farm

We left New York yesterday and drove on the 

country roads looking for antique stores.  We 

found one and it was closed.  Finally, by Cleveland 

we decided to get back on the interstate and get

to move a bit faster.  We ended up at Malabar Farm.

In this photo the main house is in the center right of

the photo, we spent the night around the corner in the

house that is in the bottom left of the photo, you can see 

it just behind a long farm building.

This month marked the 24th anniversary of 

our move to the Midwest and I have looked 

at the sign for Malabar Farm for all that time

as we took car trips between NJ and IN.

It just took me a while to actually visit.  I knew 

it was the home of an author and screenwriter

but mainly I knew it was where Bogie and Bacall

were married.  We had heard earlier in the week

that Lauren Bacall had passed away and I thought

if there was ever a perfect time to go, it was now.

Malabar Farm was the home of Louis Bromfield, a

Pulitzer prize winning author and later farmer. Bromfield

grew up in the area in central Ohio but went off to seek

fame and fortune.  He had lived in New York and gained

success and in the mid 20's he and his family took a trip

to France and ended up staying for 13 years.  In this time 

he was part of the Lost Generation of writers based in 

Paris after WWI.  He was wildly successful, in those years

 he was making $300 thousand dollars a year and 

anywhere that would have been a fortune but in post 

war France he could live VERY well.

In the late 30's, Bromfield knew another war was

brewing in Europe and decided to bring his family

home to Ohio.  They bought a few adjacent farms

and built on to an existing farmhouse to create his

dream house at Malabar Farm.  The house is much

like it was when his family lived here.  It is a nice,

large comfortable house.  It is the sort of home I 

would like to visit with lots of bookshelves and

comfy chairs.

This is Bromfield's office, the semi-circular desk

was his own design, on the outside are more 

bookshelves.

There is also a bed for Bromfield and for his dog 

in the study.  Bromfield was an insomniac and it 

is said he would only sleep a few hours a night.

Perhaps this is why he could write so much.

The Master Bedroom is just next door.

It is a pretty light filled home.

So much is just how the family left it.  These 

magazines have Bromfield's address labels

on them.

And there are bedrooms, many, many bedrooms

because the Bromfield's had many, many guests.

Funny to think so many people from all over the

world would make it to a farmhouse in rural Ohio.

Locals said you never knew who you might see 

around the area.  One day the locals were surprised

to see James Cagney working at the Farm Stand.

I guess it was a nice break from being a celebrity.

This room didn't seem to be in keeping with

the rest of the decor of the house.  The large 

patterned wallpaper with a black background

seemed garish compared to everything else.

Perhaps it was in vogue at the time.

The most famous bedroom was the honeymoon 

room that was used when Bogie and Bacall spent

their honeymoon here.  Everyone always comments

because there were twin beds!  Bromfield and Bogie

were both connected to Hollywood but that was not 

how they knew each other.  They met in New York

when they were both unknown and had a life long

friendship.

In a sunroom off the dining room is a cake showing

where Bogie and Bacall cut their wedding cake.

After touring the house we were quite hungry so

we went down the road to have lunch at the 

Malabar Inn.  The name Malabar comes from the

Malabar Hills in India.  Bromfield had visited India

and had considered buying a farm there because he

fell in love with the landscape of southern India.

Instead he ended up coming home to Ohio and 

became a farmer using innovative farming practices.

The food at the Inn was delicious.  This was our

appetizer of herbed goat cheese with crostini.

The area is known as Pleasant Valley ~ it is a 

fitting name.  Bromfield believed in organic and

self-sustaining farming methods. Some credit his

writings on farming on preventing a second dust

bowl in the United States.  He was said to be the

Man Who Had Everything ~ what a lovely thought.

Then it was time for us to hit a few antique stores 

and continue West to our American Homestead.