On the Road, one of the classics of the Beat Generation, strikes out from North Carolina. Jack Kerouac chronicles a cross-country dash into the maw of mid-twentieth century America. When Sal struck out from Testament with his friend Dean, it was autobiographical. In fact, it was Kerouac setting out with his friend Neal Cassady from his sister’s house in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

Kerouac’s mother and sister lived in North Carolina for some years. Pictured here is the home from which Jack and Neal took to the road for part of their trip. This was where Neal and company showed up in the Hudson to move furniture to New York. It was 1949, the year of my birth a little more than two hours drive to the east.