Explore the real-world places that appear in The World According to Garp by John Irving. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Steering School, University of New Hampshire Wrestling Room, Vienna, Austria - Pension Grillparzer, Schönbrunn Palace Gardens, Dog's Head Bay and 5 more.
Hanover area — Garp's childhood home and school
The fictional Steering School is where T.S. Garp grows up as the bastard son of Jenny Fields, the school nurse. Garp attends classes here, discovers his love of wrestling under coach Ernie Holm, and begins his writing career. The school's New England boarding school atmosphere shapes Garp's privileged yet unconventional upbringing, and it's where he first encounters the Percys, a family that will intersect tragically with his life.
This location is inspired by Phillips Exeter Academy, founded in 1781 in Exeter, New Hampshire. Irving himself attended Exeter and later taught there, drawing on his intimate knowledge of elite New England prep schools.
Phillips Exeter Academy remains one of America's most prestigious boarding schools, with its distinctive brick buildings and traditional campus layout preserved much as Irving would have known it.
Visit: Phillips Exeter Academy (historic site)
Durham — Where Garp hones his wrestling skills
Garp attends the University of New Hampshire on a wrestling scholarship, training intensively in the wrestling room under coach Ernie Holm. His dedication to wrestling parallels his developing discipline as a writer. The physical rigor and mental focus required for wrestling become metaphors for Garp's approach to life and art throughout the novel.
The University of New Hampshire was founded in 1866 and has maintained a strong athletics program. Wrestling has been part of the university's sports tradition since the early 20th century.
UNH continues to compete in Division I athletics with modern wrestling facilities. The university's Whittemore Center serves as home to various athletic programs including wrestling.
Visit: University of New Hampshire (tour)
Fictional pension in Vienna's inner city
The Pension Grillparzer is the fictional Viennese boarding house that serves as the setting for Garp's first successful short story, 'The Pension Grillparzer.' In the novel, Garp writes this story while living in Vienna with Helen and their children. The pension features eccentric characters including a man who walks on his hands, a bear, and various performers, representing the blend of comedy and tragedy that defines Irving's work.
Vienna's inner city has been home to countless pensions and small hotels since the Habsburg era. These establishments traditionally housed artists, writers, and bohemians, much like the fictional Grillparzer.
Vienna's first district remains filled with small hotels and pensions, many occupying historic buildings. The atmosphere Irving described continues to characterize parts of the city center.
Vienna — Where the Garp family walks and lives
While living in Vienna, Garp, Helen, and their children Duncan and Walt frequently walk through the Schönbrunn Palace gardens. These peaceful moments provide contrast to the novel's more violent episodes. The gardens represent the European culture and history that fascinates Helen, a professor, and provide a serene backdrop for family life before tragedy strikes.
Schönbrunn Palace was the summer residence of the Habsburg emperors. The baroque gardens were laid out in the 18th century and have remained largely unchanged, offering 440 acres of formal gardens, fountains, and walkways.
Schönbrunn Palace and gardens are now a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of Vienna's most visited attractions, maintaining the same paths and vistas that the fictional Garp family would have enjoyed.
Visit: Schönbrunn Palace and Gardens (historic site)
Long Island — Jenny Fields' family estate
Dog's Head Bay is the fictional Long Island estate where Jenny Fields grew up in a wealthy family before becoming a nurse. Jenny brings Garp here during his childhood, and the contrast between this privileged world and their unconventional life highlights class differences. The estate represents the traditional American wealth that Jenny rejected in favor of her independent path.
Long Island's Gold Coast was indeed home to many wealthy American families' estates during the early-to-mid 20th century, with grand homes overlooking bays and harbors along the North Shore.
Many former estates along Long Island's coast have been converted to museums, parks, or remain as private residences. The area retains its association with old American money and privilege.
Near Steering School — Local gathering place
The Steering Inn serves as a local restaurant and bar near the school where faculty, families, and visitors gather. It's here that various characters intersect throughout Garp's life, from his youth through his adult returns to Steering. The inn represents the small-town New England atmosphere that both nurtures and constrains the characters.
New England boarding school towns have traditionally featured inns and taverns that serve the school community, dating back to colonial times when such establishments were essential to town life.
Towns near prestigious New England boarding schools continue to feature historic inns and restaurants that cater to the school community and visitors.
Various locations — Feminist radical group
The Ellen James Society is a radical feminist group whose members cut out their tongues in solidarity with Ellen James, a rape victim. Jenny Fields becomes involved with this group, much to Garp's dismay. The society's meetings and activities represent the extreme feminist politics of the 1970s that Irving both sympathizes with and satirizes, showing the complex relationship between political action and personal trauma.
The 1970s saw the rise of various radical feminist groups across the United States, particularly in college towns and urban areas, advocating for women's rights through sometimes extreme measures.
While the specific Ellen James Society is fictional, feminist organizations continue to operate across New England, though generally with less radical approaches than Irving depicted.
Vermont-New Hampshire border — Scene of tragedy
This stretch of Interstate 91 is where the novel's most devastating tragedy occurs: the car accident that kills Garp's younger son Walt and severely injures his older son Duncan. The accident happens during a moment of marital crisis when Helen is having an affair with one of her students. This traumatic event becomes the emotional center of the novel, fundamentally changing all the characters' lives.
Interstate 91 was completed through Vermont and New Hampshire in the 1960s, connecting the region to urban centers and becoming a major thoroughfare through rural New England.
Interstate 91 remains a major north-south highway through New England, with the White River Junction area serving as an important interchange connecting Vermont and New Hampshire.
Ripton, Vermont — Literary retreat
Though not explicitly named in the novel, Garp attends writers' conferences that mirror the famous Bread Loaf gathering. These conferences represent Garp's literary ambitions and his interactions with other writers. The competitive, sometimes pretentious atmosphere of such events provides Irving with opportunities to satirize literary culture while exploring Garp's development as an artist.
The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, established in 1926, is one of America's oldest and most prestigious literary conferences, held annually at Middlebury College's mountain campus.
Bread Loaf continues to operate each summer, attracting established and aspiring writers from around the world to workshops and readings in the Vermont mountains.
Visit: Bread Loaf Writers' Conference (historic site)
Boston — Where Duncan recovers from his injuries
After the car accident, Garp's son Duncan is treated at a major Boston hospital (likely inspired by Children's Hospital) for his severe injuries, including the loss of an eye. The hospital scenes show Garp's anguish as a father and his guilt over the accident. Duncan's recovery and adaptation to his disability become part of the novel's exploration of how families survive trauma.
Boston Children's Hospital, founded in 1869, has long been one of the world's leading pediatric medical centers, pioneering treatments for childhood diseases and injuries.
Boston Children's Hospital remains a premier pediatric facility, continuing to treat complex cases and conduct medical research from its campus in the Longwood Medical Area.
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