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Red Cloud, Nebraska

The Willa Cather Foundation proudly hosts town and country tours where visitors can view the childhood home of Willa Cather as well as experience other historic buildings related to her life and writing.

Town tours are available daily and country tours are available by appointment. Visitors can choose between a 3-building town tour (lasting about 45 minutes) and a 7-building town tour (lasting about 90 minutes). The country tour highlights 21 historic sites and covers approximately 60 miles of the surrounding countryside.

Visitors may schedule a guided tour of the country sites by contacting the Willa Cather Foundation, or purchase a detailed map for a self-guided experience. Virtual tours are available online.

Tours leave from the Cather Bookstore, located in the historic Red Cloud Opera House in downtown Red Cloud. Please call for more information or to schedule a guided country tour.

Attractions and Upcoming Events

The Red Cloud Opera House

The Red Cloud Opera House, 1885, stood for many years as the jewel in Main Street's crown. Here Blind Boone played, William Jennings Bryan spoke, and it was from this stage that Willa Cather graduated in 1890 and delivered her eloquent oration, "Superstition vs. Investigation"

Red Cloud, NE Historic Buildings

Red Cloud City Park

The Red Cloud City Park offers a variety of activities for persons of all ages. Facilities include outdoor fireplaces, tables, a shelter house, restrooms, playground equipment, swimming pool, and tennis courts. Restaurants and electrical hookups for campers are nearby.

Red Cloud, NE Parks

Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial

The Art Gallery and Bookstore, located two doors south of the Cather Historical Center on main street, carries the country's most complete selection of Willa Cather's novels, short stories, biographies, and critical works about her.

Red Cloud, NE Memorials

The Methodist Church

[The Methodist Church] The Methodist Church building described in My Antonia , now serves as a Masonic Lodge. Cather tells how, during the winter, the children were starved for color and how they stood in the cold and looked at the stained glass windows: "

Red Cloud, NE Historic Churches

The State Bank Building

The State Bank Building, 1883, with its entrance on the diagonal, is made of native brick and was one of the first brick buildings in Red Cloud.

Red Cloud, NE Historic Buildings

Things to do near Red Cloud, NE

Franklin County Courthouse

Liederkranz

Harlan County's City RV Parks

McConaughy Camping and Public Use

Bayside Golf Course