Home
Culture and Design
The American Writer's Guide to the World

The American Writer's Guide to the World

By Jordanna Lippe

February 02, 2016

Credit: Westend61

How many times have you found yourself with a book curled up on the couch, imagining you're somewhere else? Authors' words have a way of transporting us through space and time, creating vivid images of incredible places far beyond our living spaces.

"It's about getting beyond the ordinary way of seeing things when you travel to places an author has written about," says Laurielle Penny, director of literary touring company Classical Pursuits. "Somehow, it feels like you're entering into a secret—you get to feel the place, rather than just see it; it's one step beyond just being a tourist."

From the magical streets of Paris to the beaches in Cuba, these are the places worthy of songs, books, poems, and sonnets, according to some of history's most famous American writers.

Start Slideshow

1 of 19

Paris

Credit: Cultura RM/Max Bailen

"One in whom this sense [of beauty] had long been repressed, in coming into Paris, feels a rustling and a waking within him, as if the soul were crying to unfold its wings." —Harriet Beecher Stowe

2 of 19

French Riviera

Credit: MATTES Rene / hemis.fr

"The whole world descends to forget or rejoice, to hide its face or have its fling," F. Scott Fitzgerald said of the French Riviera.

3 of 19

Rome

Credit: shomos uddin

"I sometimes fancy, that Rome—mere Rome—will crowd everything else out of my heart." —Nathaniel Hawthorne

4 of 19

Maine

Credit: John Orcutt

"The tops of mountains are among the unfinished parts of the globe, whither it is a slight insult to the gods to climb and pry into their secrets, and try their effect on our humanity. Only daring and insolent men, perchance, go there," Henry David Theroux said of Maine.

5 of 19

Venice

Credit: Danita Delimont

"Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go." —Truman Capote

6 of 19

St. Lucia

Credit: Larry Dale Gordon

"The most beautiful bay in the Caribbean," James Albert Michener said of Marigot Bay in St. Lucia.

7 of 19

New Orleans

Credit: Bob Stefko

"New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin." —Mark Twain.

8 of 19

Cuba

Credit: Jeremy Woodhouse

"My mojito in the Bodeguita del Medio and my daiquiri in the Floridita," Ernest Hemingway described his nightly routine in Havana, Cuba.

9 of 19

New York City

Credit: 753788

"There is no place like it, no place with an atom of its glory, pride, and exultancy. It lays its hand upon a man’s bowels; he grows drunk with ecstasy; he grows young and full of glory, he feels that he can never die," Walt Whitman said of New York City.

10 of 19

Paris

Credit: everyOrdinary

"When spring comes to Paris the humblest mortal alive must feel that he dwells in paradise." —Henry Miller

11 of 19

Seattle

Credit: Songquan Deng, Songquan Photogra

"The old part of Seattle, where the fish and crabs and shrimps lay beautifully on white beds of shaved ice and where the washed and shining vegetables were arranged in pictures." —John Steinbeck

12 of 19

San Francisco

Credit: Joel Guay/Shodanphotos

"America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco and New Orleans." —Tennessee Williams

13 of 19

Sonoma Mountains

Credit: Douglas Menuez

"Across Sonoma Mountain wisps of sea fog are stealing. The afternoon sun smolders in the drowsy sky. I have everything to make me glad I am alive." —Jack London

14 of 19

London

Credit: John Lawson, Belhaven

"The best bribe which London offers to-day to the imagination, is, that, in such a vast variety of people and conditions, one can believe there is room for persons of romantic character to exist, and that the poet, the mystic, and the hero may hope to confront their counterparts." —Ralph Waldo Emerson

15 of 19

Cape Cod

Credit: John Greim

"The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach. I have heard them all, and of the three elemental voices, that of ocean is the most awesome, beautiful and varied," Henry Beston said of Cape Cod.

16 of 19

Hudson River Valley

Credit: brandtbolding

"It is a beautiful spot, capable of being made a little paradise," Washington Irving wrote about the Hudson River Valley.

17 of 19

Georgia

Credit: DenisTangneyJr

"What is there to see in Europe? I'll bet those foreigners can't show us a thing we haven't got right here in Georgia." —Margaret Mitchell

18 of 19

Big Sur

Credit: Christian Heeb

"Out yonder they may curse, revile, and torture one another, defile all the human instincts, make a shambles of creation (if it were in their power), but here, no, here, it is unthinkable, here there is abiding peace, the peace of God, and the serene security created by a handful of good neighbors living at one with the creature world," Henry Miller wrote of Big Sur, California.

19 of 19

Florence

Credit: Westend61

"If you know where to look, Florence is paradise." —Dan Brown

Replay gallery

Up Next

By Jordanna Lippe

Your Profile

The American Writer's Guide to the World

1 of 19

Paris

1 of 19

2 of 19

French Riviera

2 of 19

3 of 19

Rome

3 of 19

4 of 19

Maine

4 of 19

5 of 19

Venice

5 of 19

6 of 19

St. Lucia

6 of 19

7 of 19

New Orleans

7 of 19

8 of 19

Cuba

8 of 19

9 of 19

New York City

9 of 19

10 of 19

Paris

10 of 19

11 of 19

Seattle

11 of 19

12 of 19

San Francisco

12 of 19

13 of 19

Sonoma Mountains

13 of 19

14 of 19

London

14 of 19

15 of 19

Cape Cod

15 of 19

16 of 19

Hudson River Valley

16 of 19

17 of 19

Georgia

17 of 19

18 of 19

Big Sur

18 of 19

19 of 19

Florence

19 of 19

Share the Gallery

Up Next

Share the Gallery

Everything in This Slideshow