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    Ernest Hemingway Birth Home

    4.2 (35 reviews)
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    Jessica S.

    This is a very short tour and not really worth the price, but you could get into the Hemingway museum a few blocks down with your admission so that's cool. I learned a lot during the time I was there, and it was an interesting tour and a pretty cool house. I had to come here for a class I was taking in college, but honestly, I probably will never visit again. The positive thing is that they allow you to take as many pictures as you want, and there is a small gift shop at the beginning of the tour where you buy the tickets where you can buy little pins and bookmarks. The tour guide I had was very knowledgeable, but she was monotone and scared me a little. I kinda wished we were able to have iPads for the tour like in Elvis's house in Memphis.

    Parlor on main level
    Greg K.

    This is a really great place to visit when in Oak Park Il. The docent team offers an in depth tour of the home Hemingway was born in. Lots of insight into the events that guided Ernest's life. My time was well spent. Thanks to Connie and the team there

    Alexis B.

    We were in Oak Park to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright House and Studio this past weekend and decided to stop by the Ernest Hemingway Birth Home since it was so close. Our tour guide was Bob, who was very, very nice, but the tour wasn't really a hit for anyone in our group. The tour was meant to be 45 minutes, but Bob asked if anyone needed to be somewhere soon after and warned us that he often goes for longer. I didn't think much of this, because we weren't super pressed for time given how close the FLW House and Studio is from the Ernest Hemingway Birth Home. I want to be clear: Bob knows A LOT about Ernest Hemingway and the Hemingway family. And he seems to really have a passion for what he does. And I think the wanted to impart that passion to us. However, Bob shared a few too many stories. I say that because we spent over 30 minutes (someone in our group thought it was 40 minutes) in the first room of the house. The tour is meant to be 45 minutes, but we stood in a single room for over 30 of those minutes. The Hemingway family only lived in the house until Ernest was five, but we got back stories all the way to grandparents. I feel like I read a book on Ernest Hemingway's family tree. I wanted to find everything as interesting as Bob clearly did, but we all just felt that the tour went on way too long. Given that Ernest Hemingway only lived in the house for his first five years, I think a much shorter tour is appropriate. Beyond that, at $15 per adult, this was pretty pricey. While I appreciated Bob's enthusiasm, I can only recommend this experience to someone that is really, really, really interested in Ernest Hemingway and would like to learn stories about all of his family members.

    Christina P.

    Overall my visit here was slightly above average. My main reason for giving this historic home a lower rating is primarily due to the lack of authenticity-- that is, the home is largely filled with reproduction pieces rather than originals. While the guides do point this out, the feeling one gets walking through the home is that the reproductions were not carefully researched or selected despite the museum having numerous photographs of the interior of the home from when the Hemingway family resides there. This point is further driven home by the fact that you can sit on nearly every available chair in every single room throughout the tour. The one positive note is that the guides really know the history of Ernest Hemingway and his family as well as information about his early years spent in this home. The tour is laced with anecdotes and stories about the family and how they used the home which are all very interesting. The cost of entry is a bit on the steep side for what you get at $15 per person. There are slight discounts available for seniors and students. If you're a Hemingway fan,than this home is a definite must on your tour list.

    The house!

    Fun and informative tour, worth the drive out of Chicago. Our guide clearly knew the house and was very nice!

    Irina F.

    This is a real hidden treasure. I had no idea Hemingway family was so noble. I found out about it in an hour more than I ever knew. This place is a must for people who are not only interested in Hemingway as a writer but also want to know how did he grew up and who influenced him. I will definitely come back here. It's not too far from down town of Oak Park - a good place to be at itself.

    This is the front of the home and birthplace of Ernest Hemingway on a pretty day in July.

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    3 years ago

    Sue is a great storyteller and shared many great details of the house, family & times. We enjoyed it very much!

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    9 years ago

    We really enjoyed the tour, although the $15 per person charge is a tad steep.

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    10 years ago

    Great discovery in Oak Park! Don't forget to pay a visit after your Frank Lloyd Wright tour!

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    9 years ago

    Fascinating look into the childhood of the great writer and late Victorian society in general. A real find.

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    Ask the Community - Ernest Hemingway Birth Home

    Review Highlights - Ernest Hemingway Birth Home

    Our tour guide, Matt, did an incredible job walking us through the events in the Hemingway family's lives.

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    Pleasant Home Foundation - Original entrance doors

    Pleasant Home Foundation

    4.1(16 reviews)
    0.6 mi

    Open on Thursdays from 11-4. As of April 2024, they accept a modest entrance of $2 or canned food…read morefor the food pantry per person.

    I visited Chicago this past weekend with some family and friends, and it turned out to be a very…read morearchitecture-heavy trip. We decided to stop by Pleasant Home since we were in Oak Park for a tour of (you guessed it) the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio. Pleasant Home was a bit of a disappointment for us, but it was probably partly our fault. I was dragging our group around to look at historic buildings all weekend, and I was a bit worried the two people less interested in architecture were beginning to get bored. When we arrived at Pleasant Home, I saw they offered guided and self-guided tours. Because I was worried a long tour might be the breaking point for two of our group, we opted for the self-guided to keep it a bit shorter. What I didn't realize is that if you do the self-guided tour, you are limited to the bottom floor of the home. You are given a single laminated sheet of paper with the floor plan and some very basic information about the house. On top of that, the bottom floor of the house has no furniture in it (with a couple of exceptions - two tables maybe?). So, while the price for the self-guided tour was reasonable (only $5 per person), you basically have access to five or so rooms with no furniture in them. We were in and out in about 15 minutes. The house is beautiful (although the lighting seemed very low, making the house appear very dark), but I cannot recommend a self-guided tour. If you're interested in the house, pay the extra $5 and arrive on the hour for a guided tour. You'll get to go upstairs and learn more about the house than what is on the laminated floor plan guide. It might be a wonderful guided tour, I can only say that the self-guided tour option is not worth doing.

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    Pleasant Home Foundation
    Pleasant Home Foundation
    Pleasant Home Foundation

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    Trailside Museum of Natural History - Red-bellied Woodpecker at suet feeder

    Trailside Museum of Natural History

    4.7(23 reviews)
    1.6 mi

    Quiet, clean and well maintained museum. The building looks really beautiful from the outside and…read morelooks well-kept from the inside. I saw a small play area for small kids in one of the rooms.

    The Trailside Museum of Natural History is one of the museums of the Forest Preserve Cook County…read moresystem. This nature museum is fanciest of them all, as it was once a mansion. It's also in a nice area of River Forest. It was established in 1932, in a mansion that dates to 1876. The building itself has an interesting history; after being a residence, it was the site of not one but two different schools before it became the nature museum. The building was acquired by the Forest Preserves in 1919 and was for a time the headquarters of the FPCC. There's a parking lot here and I've also found parking along Thatcher Road on that side of the museum; there is an entrance on both sides. There's a pond near the parking lot for fishing. There are just under 5 miles of trails, and they have a variety of programming here as well. One of their programs is a hybrid program in cooperation with educators, which I think is pretty cool. The first time I was here, it was as a stop on the West Cook Wild Ones native garden tour. I didn't know it--or any of the nature museums of the FPCC--existed before that time. I got some great information from the master naturalist there and now aspire to have a pollinator garden of my own someday. I saw my first hummingbird moth here, many butterflies, and so many birds. And I saw a real live chipmunk for the very first time that was NOT a cartoon! Today I was here for a program called Busy Beavers, and it was really good. There were nearly 20 people that attended. One of them was wearing a Beaver Believer t-shirt, which is a reference to Oregon State University. Funnily, she has no connection to Oregon or OSU; she just likes beaver. I happened to be reppin' my hometown and was wearing my University of Oregon Ducks t-shirt, so I had to get a photo. #goducks #beatthebeavs I learned a lot from the guide, and it was really fun program. I think the hike was probably about a mile to our destination and back. There's another program here called Summer Blossoms which I'm looking forward to attending, and I will be keeping an eye out on the events here so that I can fill up my calendar.

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    Trailside Museum of Natural History - My son playing outside the museum in the play area for kids

    My son playing outside the museum in the play area for kids

    Trailside Museum of Natural History
    Trailside Museum of Natural History

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    Ernest Hemingway Birth Home - landmarks - Updated May 2026

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