J.D. Salinger’s home in Cornish, N.H., is for sale

You can own the home of legendary author J.D. Salinger in Cornish, N.H. Salinger’s house is for sale for $679,000.

And guess what? It’s secluded.

Set on 12 acres, the spacious 2,900-square-foot house is reached by traveling a mile and half down a winding dirt road flanked by “no trespassing” signs.

Salinger’s novel “A Catcher in the Rye” was published in 1951 to acclaim and huge sales, and with all that success came lots of attention -- attention the novelist didn’t want. In 1953, the year his collection “Nine Stories” was published, Salinger separated from his first wife and bought this house.

He settled in Cornish after leaving New York City, and it was there that he withdrew from public life. Locals said they saw him all the time, but he avoided contact with autograph hounds and Holden Caulfield fans.

Salinger sold this property in the 1960s to the present owner, who has lived in it ever since. The owner’s husband passed away two years ago and she says the home and grounds are too much for her to keep up on her own. She hasn’t revealed what her connection to the famous author may have been.

Whether or not Salinger actually wrote much in the house is something of a mystery. Some possible pieces he might have worked on while living there include the stories “Franny” and “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters,” both published in 1955, “Zooey” in 1957 and “Seymour: An Introduction” in 1959.

He also might have done some work on “Hapworth 16, 1924” at this house. The story, published in the New Yorker in 1965, was Salinger’s last piece to appear during his lifetime. He remained in Cornish and lived in publishing silence for decades until his death in 2010 at age 91.

Most fans hope that he was writing all along, but what he might have created remains to be seen.

The home was built in 1939, has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a barn-like living room, three fireplaces, a workshop and a garage apartment. It’s got a view of Mt. Ascutney, trails running through its wooded acreage and its own stream.

Plus, a literary legend.

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