C A T H E R   F O U N D A T I O N
Enter the 1880's in Historic Red Cloud, Nebraska...  Willa Cather's Window to the World

Visitor's Guide To Catherland

The Cather Foundation is headquartered in Red Cloud, located in south central Nebraska, six miles north of the Kansas border. (map and driving directions) Each year, the Cather Foundation hosts more than 9,000 visitors to this prairie town of 1,300 inhabitants.

Cather Foundation Hours

The Cather Foundation is open year round. We are closed on New Year's Day, Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Sundays October through March.

Summer hours (April through September) are Monday-Friday 8 am - 5 pm, Saturday 9 am - 5 pm, and Sundays 1 pm - 5 pm.

Winter hours (October through March) are Monday-Friday 8 am - 5 pm, Saturday 9 am - 1 pm, Sundays closed.

Guided tours through seven restored buildings are offered: the Willa Cather Childhood Home, the 1885 Opera House, the Burlington Depot (1897), the St. Juliana Falconieri Catholic Church, the Grace Episcopal Church, the Harling House, and the Farmers' and Merchants' (Garber) Bank Building (1888-89).

Summer Guided Tours are offered at 9:30 am, 11 am, 1:30 pm and 3 pm Monday-Saturday, and 1:30 pm and 3 pm on Sunday.
Winter Guided Tours are offered at 9:30 am, 11 am, 1:30 pm and 3 pm Monday-Friday, and 9:30 am and 11 am on Saturdays.
Tour prices vary; please call for more information.

The tours originate from the Cather Bookstore in the restored 1885 Opera House, located on Red Cloud's main street.

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The Willa Cather Thematic District encompasses twenty-six individually significant sites and four historic districts, in and around Red Cloud and Webster County, including 610 acres of native prairie. In all, more than 190 sites are included, making it the largest historic district dedicated to an author in the United States.

Maps of self-guided driving and walking tours are available at the Cather Bookstore. Highlights of the area include the Republican River one mile south of Red Cloud, and the Pavelka farmstead and the crossroads grave site, both described in My Ántonia.

The Cather Bookstore offers the most extensive selection of works by and about Cather in the country. The Cather Archives containing hundreds of letters, thousands of photographs, early manuscripts and other historical items related to the Cather family and the real people behind the characters in Cather's writing, are available for scholarly research by appointment.

Special events hosted throughout the year include the Willa Cather Spring Conference, an annual event since 1955, and the celebration of Cather's birthday the first week in December. The newly renovated 1885 Opera House also houses gallery space with permanent and rotating exhibitions, and hosts an extensive schedule of cultural events and performances.

Join us to experience the pioneer America immortalized by Willa Cather, and to celebrate the men and women who settled on the Great Plains at the end of the 19th century.

For more information, check the events calendar, call 402-746-2653, or email the Cather Foundation at info@willacather.org.

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