In 1926, author and poet Carl Sandburg and his family rented a summer home on Lake Michigan near Sawyer, and two years later he purchased several lots in Harbert. His wife Lilian, whom he called Paula, designed and supervised construction of a three-story beachfront house that became the family's year-round home for the next seventeen years. Sandburg traveled by train from Harbert to Chicago to return to his office at The Chicago Daily News as needed, and while living near here he completed several books, including The People: Yes, Steichen the Photographer, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning multi-volume Abraham Lincoln: The War Years. From 1928 to 1945, the family lived in this beachfront home, where Sandburg spent breaks from writing walking the sand dunes, studying Lake Michigan from his deck, and entertaining friends with songs on his guitar. Lilian developed an interest in farming and in 1935 bought a small herd of goats, and as her breeding program expanded, the herd gained national recognition for high milk production. The family named the property Chikaming Goat Farm after an early Native American tribe in the area. Seeking a milder climate, the Sandburg family moved to North Carolina in 1945, after Sandburg had said that of all the places he had traveled, Harbert was best of all.