BRATTLEBORO — At the 2019 Brattleboro Literary Festival, Casey Cep, author of Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee (2019), intrigued the audience with stories of her discovery that Harper Lee spent time doing research and writing in West Brattleboro.
Through the good detective work of many local historians (Robert and Irene Burtiss, John Carnahan, Maisie Crowther, Tom Ragle, Joe Rivers, Sandy Rouse, Jeanne Walsh, and others), Cep was able to piece together that Lee originally came to Brattleboro to visit Lucile Sullivan, who rented a summer home at 87 Goodenough Rd. in West Brattleboro. Sullivan worked for Harper Lee's literary agency.
From the records Jeanne Walsh uncovered, it seems that Lucile started renting the house around 1969. However, Cep mentions in her book that Lee may have started visiting Brattleboro as early as 1962.
The Brattleboro Words Project is creating an audio segment about Harper Lee. We would love to hear from anyone who knows anything about her time in Brattleboro.
We would also appreciate hearing from anyone who knows anything about Lucile Sullivan, who we understood eventually moved to the Brookside Apartments, where she lived until she passed away in 1987. We understand she may have been on the board of the Windham County Humane Society.
We would like to find out more exactly the dates when Lee was in Brattleboro, how long she spent here, where she stayed, whom she visited, and what she was working on or doing while here.
Cep had access to a letter that mentioned Stockwells Store. We would be grateful to hear from anyone who has any stories, hearsay, letters, photographs, etc., related to Lee and her connection with Brattleboro.
We understand there is a photo taken of Lee sitting on the front porch at 87 Goodenough Rd. One source told us that the photo was sold with the house when the house changed hands. If anyone knows the past or present owners of the house at that address, or anyone else who might have knowledge of the photograph or her stay there, we would love to do more research.
If you have any information you can share with us, please contact me. We would be grateful for any information anyone can help us with.