JD Salinger's widow offers her former general store in New Hampshire as site for new library

Cornish: The widow of  author JD Salinger  wants to donate the former general store she owns in New Hampshire to the town so it can be converted into a library.

Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye,  spent the last nearly six decades of his life  in Cornish, far removed from the public eye. He died in 2010.

Colleen O’Neill, his widow, bought the town’s former general store in 2016. It reopened, but closed about 18 months later.

“A library can be that vital place that helps our community thrive,” she said in a letter read aloud by a friend at 8 June’s Town Meeting, the Valley News  reported . “Libraries today are more than just about books. They are about connecting us to the wider world, serving the community and creating a sense of place. What I love about this town, what I love about Cornish, is that when help is needed, this community comes together. It is what makes Cornish so amazing and so special.”

The town’s current library was built around 1910 and lacks off-street parking and running water, library trustee Laura Cousineau said. It also isn’t compliant under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“We need a new place and this is possibly an answer to our prayers,” Cousineau said.

O’Neill, who wasn’t at the meeting, attended it in 2010 to thank the town for respecting her husband’s privacy.