OPINION: The James Merrill legacy in Stonington, nurtured and growing

Apr. 13—After the poet James Merrill died, from AIDS, at the young age of 68, a small bequest in his will left the remarkable building he owned in the heart of Stonington Borough to the Stonington Village Improvement Association.

Of course Merrill, one of the leading American poets of the 20th century, was known for his great literary achievements. But a common asterisk after his name was that his father was a founder of Merrill Lynch, and the poet grew up very wealthy.

Still, the gift of the building at 107 Water St. did not come with any kind of endowment or money for upkeep, beyond some rents from existing tenants, and there were no detailed instructions about what he wanted the association to do with it, beyond letting his tenants stay on.

What happened next was the making of what should become part of Stonington lore, how Merrill's Stonington friends patched together a plan to leverage his small bequest into a lasting tribute to his memory, one that continues to culturally enrich the community in his absence.

That legacy is just now, almost 30 years after the poet's death, finally coming into focus, and it's an inspiring success story.

The SVIA is now in the process of turning ownership of the Merrill building, which in 2016 was named a National Historic Landmark, over to the organization which has been managing it in his name all this time.

The Merrill House will now stand on its own as a nonprofit, managing what amounts to a remarkable house museum, a home that has changed little since the famous poet left it ―same books on the shelves, same paint colors and wallpaper ― as well as a successful writers' residency program that honors Merrill's work ethic in Stonington by bringing working writers into his home and community. It is sometimes open for tours, when writers are not in residence.

The James Merrill House is also more organized than ever, with its first paid executive director, and more welcoming to the public, with a visitors center on Water Street that opened at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The organization, while thirsty for new grants and revenue, can claim credit for organizing donations over the years from Merrill's relatives and interested Stonington citizens into an endowment of close to $2 million.

It runs mostly on the focused work of dedicated volunteers, who have brought it this far.

A special Merrill tribute is being planned for October 2026, to mark the 100th anniversary year of the poet's birth. They hope it will attract a large gathering from the nation's literary community, for an event that could become a yearly convocation.

The improvement association, after Merrill's death, left the management of the Water Street building to a group of Merrill's friends, who very wisely preserved the top-floor apartment, where the poet lived with his partner, David Jackson.

And they began the informal work/study program in which writers and scholars, including, in the beginning, those who knew Merrill, could come and work in the same space that inspired the great poet. The writers program has become much broader in scope and more institutionalized over time.

The upcoming session includes eight writers, some from overseas, who will stay in the apartment, with a small stipend, for up to eight weeks ― one will participate virtually ― and may take part in local receptions, readings and lectures.

As word spreads about the program, each year brings many more applicants. And Stonington benefits, knowing that talented writers, some from around the world, are still at work at 107 Water St., keeping Merrill's spirit in the community alive.

As time goes by, the number of people who recall Merrill as a resident of the village is thinning. Among the great Merrill House initiatives was a recent oral history project, posted to the group's web site, that includes a number of interviews with people whose memories of the poet help keep him alive.

Sibby Lynch, who was president of the SVIA at the time of Merrill's bequest, was among those who first came up with the idea of hosting writers in his home and is still closely involved in maintaining and growing the program.

In meeting recently with some of the current volunteer stewards of the Merrill House, I was struck by remarks from Willard Spiegelman, another of the poet's friends on the board, who recalled Merrill's own generosity in helping artists with a fund he created for that purpose.

The residence program for writers at him home seems like a logical extension of that generosity.

Merrill was also modest, Spiegelman and others suggested, and would be chagrined to see a plaque on his house naming it a national landmark.

Even inside the quirky and charming apartment, the marks of literary achievement, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Awards and others, are hardly given prominence.

"They are hanging in the kitchen," Spiegelman noted. "Above the sink."

And it looks like that is where they will remain, for a very long while.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com