Hemingway's Birthplace is a good place to begin to explore the roots of the author's life and art. Here Ernest was born in a second floor bedroom on July 21, 1899. This Queen Anne house, built by his maternal grandparents and recently restored, is as it was when Ernest lived there. Young Ernest spent his first six years in these grand rooms rich with Victorian decor.
On the first floor, Hemingway joined his family in Grandfather Abba's Bible readings and prayers. His mother, Grace Hall Hemingway, gave music lessons in the parlor. The top floor of the tower was a mini-museum, where Ernest's father, Dr. Clarence Hemingway, kept his wildlife specimens. Grace's uncle, Tyley Hancock, who roomed on the second floor, had traveled widely. Ernest listened avidly to his colorful tales, and acted out poems and stories from the family's well-stocked library.
When Ernest was five, he watched Abba die, and with him a strong link to the Victorian Age. The family then left this house of ancestral echoes for a Prairie-style house, more streamlined like the new century-and Ernest's writing to come.
BIRTHPLACE & MUSEUM HOURS
Sunday through Friday 1pm-5pm Saturday 10am–5pm Closed New Year's, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Martin Luther King Day, Christmas Day, Easter Sunday, Fourth of July and Thanksgiving.
NOTE: subject to change, please call the Hemingway Museum to confirm.
ADMISSION (includes both sites)
- $8 adult
- $6 senior (65 and over)
- $6 youth (18 and under)
- Free to children 5 and under
- Rates as of March 2005 and are subject to change.
Group Rates & Tours are available. Advance reservations are required.
TOURS
Tours of the Home and Museum reflect on the influence and impact that the family and the community had on the early life of the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author, and last approximately 90 minutes. We suggest you begin your tour at the Museum.
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