John F. Kennedy’s Birthplace – Brookline, Massachusetts
The John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site in Brookline, Massachusetts offers the opportunity to step into the earliest chapters of that life that would shape world history.
Touring this modest home, you are greeted by the recorded voice of Rose Kennedy. She calmly recounts the rhythms and rituals of family life. Through her reflections, the house comes alive with the daily routines, discipline, faith, reading aloud, dinner conversations and the expectations she and Joseph Kennedy had for their children. Hearing her describe those early years while standing in the very rooms where young Jack Kennedy spent his infancy creates a closeness with their past.
This was the birthplace of John F Kennedy in 1917, and the home was later carefully restored to reflect how the family lived during this period. The period furnishings and photographs give the sense of a household shaped by ambition, education, faith and strong parental guidance.
Recognizing the importance of preserving this setting, the house was designated a National Historic Site in 1967, during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. Congress authorized its inclusion in the National Park System so that we could better understand the early influences that shaped the nation’s 35th president.
Read More From Nancy
Hammersmith – Rhode Island
In the 1990s, Hammersmith Farm in Newport opened for tours, and we made the trip to see it. The estate is best known as the childhood summer home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and as the site of the wedding reception following her marriage to John F. Kennedy in 1953. After the ceremony of St. Mary’s […]
Gilbert Stuart Birthplace – North Kingstown, Rhode Island
Gilbert Stuart went on to fame as the portrait artist of Geroge Washington, the very image that appears on every dollar bill. Our first visit to this site was during my homeschooling days. Visiting historic houses was a part of our homeschooling adventures, and I would purposely seek out places like this, homes where history felt real […]
Hamilton Grange – Bronx, New York
For those who have seen the musical Hamilton, do you remember the moment when the family “moves uptown? In the late 18th century, uptown meant leaving the crowded streets of lower Manhattan for open farmland to the north. This are would later become Harlem. That is where Alexander Hamilton built his country retreat, a house known […]
