Yaddo

Yaddo, the 400-acre Saratoga Springs estate that Spencer and Katrina Trask left to artists, has hosted residencies since 1926. Its guest book is preposterous — Langston Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Flannery O'Connor (who wrote much of Wise Blood there), Philip Roth, Patricia Highsmith — and its mansion-gothic atmosphere is part of American literary folklore.

Residencies are free (application fee modest; financial aid for travel exists), typically two to five weeks, with two application deadlines a year. Admission is competitive and panel-judged. With MacDowell, it is one of the two residencies whose name alone functions as a credential.