One of its more famous features is the outline of Faulkner's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel A Fable, penciled in graphite and red on the plaster walls of his office.

The home originally was designed with an L-shaped layout with a 450 square foot center hall connecting a parlor and dining room on one side with a library on the other.

Around the turn of the century, Julia Bailey added an indoor kitchen and pantry, enclosed a dogtrot hallway in the servants' area, a front porch, and a bathroom.

Neither of those trees can be found on the property, but the grounds and surrounding woods of Rowan Oak contain hundreds of species of native Mississippi plants, most of which date back to antebellum times.

During his time at Rowan Oak, Faulkner kept horses on the property for riding, jumping and, occasionally, fox hunting, and he would often attend athletics events at nearby Ole Miss.

[5] In the 1930s, Faulkner installed brick terraces with balustrades framing the front portico, added a porch off the dining room, a porte-cochère on the home's west side, and a fourth bedroom, as well as other structural changes.