National Willa Cather Center
The National Willa Cather Center offers the opportunity to fully explore the life and legacy of one of America's most celebrated authors. The Center is the heart of the largest collection of nationally designated historic buildings and sites devoted to any American author. Your visit to the Center comes with the unique experience of an embrace from the small community where Willa Cather spent her formative years. She once said, "I was always being pulled back into Nebraska.” You will be, too.
About the National Willa Cather Center
The National Willa Cather Center opened in 2017 as an arts and cultural center that serves as a living memorial to renowned writer, Willa Cather. Located in Cather’s childhood hometown of Red Cloud, Nebraska, the Center provides almost 20,000 square feet of space that includes a public museum, archive, research center, classroom, bookstore, art gallery, and performing arts center. The Center occupies Red Cloud’s historic “Moon Block,” an 1887 structure that was fully restored and given new life as the National Willa Cather Center.
What you'll experience:
- Explore a new exhibit, American Bittersweet: The Life & Writing of Willa Cather
- View our 15-minute museum film narrated by Ken Burns (Supported in part by the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation and Vintage Books)
- Tour Cather's childhood home and six additional historic sites related to her life & writing
- Conduct research in the Willa Cather Foundation's extensive archive (by appointment)
- Take in a performance or exhibit at the Red Cloud Opera House
- Hike and picnic, star-gaze our dark skies, or watch the sunrise and sunset at the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie
- Explore scenic country roads or take a Cather "Country Tour" of outlying properties and settings
- Spend a relaxing evening at the Cather Second Home Guest House
- Shop the National Willa Cather Center bookstore and gift shop