Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Museum — Attraction in Oak Park

So, finding myself in Oak Park with nothing much to do, I looked up the local tourist attractions. Boom. Hemingway House. Will do. Went with two of my buddies who, actually, are quite up on their Hemingway knowledge. We were the only three people at that time, so they and the tourist guide got into some interesting conversations. These were stilted, however, with her being asked a question and saying 'oh, we'll get to that later in the tour'. Enter the Portuguese tourist group. This is where things got sidetracked a bit, but hey, that's cool. Our two groups combined to form one super tour group and now we're all jockeying for position, trying to sees the sights, irritable babies crying in Portuguese, language barriers, etc But that was all my misfortune. The house was interesting with authentic items purchased from the Hemingway family (with our guide alluding to quite the hefty price tags). Got some history on the family and learned some things I didn't know (for example, a bunch of the Hemingways, not just Ernest, died from suicide. Like, a bunch of them) Saw the room where baby Hemingway was raised, saw the room where baby Hemingway was born, which, coincidentally, could also potentially be the room where baby Hemingway was conceived. One of my favorite parts was the secret hallway between the mom and dad's separate bedrooms. At the time it was the appropriate thing for parents to have separate rooms, but this little walkway connector allowed for nighttime activities (eyebrow wiggle). All in all we were there for over two hours which was way. Too. Long. An interesting visit that I have no need to repeat...

This is my "better late than never" review for the Ernest Hemingway birthplace museum. I had the opportunity to tour this historic house last year and thoroughly enjoyed my visit. It was a quiet weekday afternoon and I had the tour guide to myself. I have read several biographies about Ernest Hemingway, but I learned new information during my visit and it was lovely to see the home the way it would have looked when the Hemingway family lived there. I enjoyed the story of Hemingway's father, Clarence, (who was a doctor and delivered all of his children), standing on the wraparound porch and blowing a cornet fanfare, announcing to the neighborhood the birth of his first son. In Hemingway's sister, Marcelline Hemingway Sanford's memoir, ''At the Hemingway's'', she describes the house and the rooms in great detail. I recommend this book if you would like to learn more about the family and house. Although not part of the current house tour, Marcelline described the outhouse that once stood on the property: "At the rear of the house behind bushes of flowering pink Wigela stood the old outhouse, screened by latticework from the view of the street and used only for emergencies when our single bathroom was overcrowded." The Hemingway birthplace is open three afternoons a week, 1-5pm and Saturday 10am-5pm. This is a very worthwhile tour if you enjoy the novels of Ernest Hemingway and want to learn more about his life or are just interested in Victorian...

I have followed in Hemingway's footsteps around the world to several locations and finally got the chance to visit his birth home in Oak Park this past Sunday. The house is BEAUTIFULLY restored. Our guide showed us a photo of what the living room looked like when the Hemingways lived there and then pointed out the detail in the restored living room explaining how everything was replicated as close as possible to the photo. It was amazing! It definitely makes you appreciate the art of restoring a home to a particular time period.

Of course the main highlight of the tour was seeing the room that Hemingway was actually born, which was a bit surreal!

Our guide was lovely as well! We could tell he was very passionate about Hemingway! Although I know a great deal about Hemingway already, I loved hearing someone else relate all the facts and details.

Thank you to everyone at the birthplace museum! It was a...