"The Shack"

Sigurd Olson wrote his books in a converted single-car garage that he called "the shack." Throughout the 1930s he had longed for a quiet place to write, away from the noise of children and telephones, and in September 1937 he spent $150 to renovate the garage.

"Now it will make no difference how many are in the house, what company we have or how many guests," he wrote in his journal. "Nothing will bother me out here."

Well, it wasn't quite as simple as Sigurd expected, but over the years he found he could do his best writing here.

photo of Olson by Richard Frank