Editor’s note: Please see the updated post — Ernest Hemingway’s First Chapter in Oak Park, Illinois
Ernest Hemingway has been a favorite author of mine since I read The Sun Also Rises many years ago.
I think I’ve read all of his published works since then. Like many who are interested in the man and his life, I’ve strongly associated him with places like Havana, Key West, Paris, Spain and other places he lived or wrote about. I also think of Ketchum, Idaho where he took his own life on July 2, 1961.
But a few months ago, I spent some time in the town where it all began for Hemingway at his birthplace in Oak Park, Illinois.
He was born on July 21, 1899 on the second floor of this home in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago about 10 miles west of downtown. He lived there with his parents, siblings, grandparents and Uncle Tyley until he was six years old.
There are guided tours that take you through the entire home, including living areas, kitchen, bedrooms and the nursery where Ernest slept. Our tour guide provided quite a bit of information about the history of the Hemingway family, Ernest’s upbringing and the impact it had on his writing. Uncle Tyley was a very colorful character who shared his travel tales with young Hemingway. I like to imagine Ernest looking out of the living room windows and dreaming about the far away places that his uncle told him about.
After his grandfather died, the family moved to another home in Oak Park where Ernest lived until graduating from high school. That home is not currently open to the public.
A block away on Oak Park Avenue is the Ernest Hemingway Museum. The exhibits include photos, letters and other artifacts from Ernest’s life, including his childhood diary. It is recommended that visitors tour the museum first. I still found it worked well to do the tour in the reverse order. It really depends on the timing of the house tours.
For lunch, try Hemmingway’s Bistro across the street from the museum. A waiter speculated that the extra “m” was added to the bistro’s name for copyright reasons.
i find it interesting visiting places of famous authors, artists, whatever, to try and see where they got their inspirations from and how their home environment influenced their work (or even vice-versa). one particular one i can think of is sigmund freuds house in vienna. crazy stuff.
big fan of the sun also rises as well!
Thanks for the comment, Jamie — I like visiting places like that too. Freud’s house would be so interesting!
My favourite book is The Sun Also Rises, I would love to go see this.
Yeah – that was the one that got me started. It was part of a 3 book set I got from a book club. The other two were For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms — loved them, too!
I wish I had known about this when I traveled to chicagoland for work! I would’ve loved to visit the house.
Lots to see in the Chicago area!
Had no idea Hemingway was from Oak Park – such an interesting area!
I lived in Oak Park for a short while. Love the FL Wright influence there.
I never knew there was so much history in Oak Park. I may have to swing by and check it out!
When you get a chance, check it out and let us know what you think! I’ll bet you could find a few quirky places to write about.
I own up to the fact that I haven’t read any of his books, but have been wanting to for years, so this is the inspiration. Thanks! Now I know the book to start with!!!
The Sun Also Rises is a perfect place to start. Let me know what you think of it!
It is so nice to see that the historical home has been well preserved.
I think you’d like taking a tour of this house. Very well kept up and there are a lot of artifacts from that time (including some that belonged to the Hemingway family).
Thanks for sharing this. Visited his favorite bar in Havana.
I’d love to do that and have a mojito in his honor!
It’s always fun when you get to explore aspects of the earlier life of someone you respect.
Exactly!
Great post Cathy! I like Hemingway, and seeing where he started life would be interesting
Thanks, Nancie – I hope that the other home in Oak Park where he lived will someday be open to the public, too.
I’m becoming more of an architecture buff these days, so I may have to pay a visit to Oak Park. The house tour sounds really cool. Scott and I did a tour of Washington’s Headquarters while we were in New Jersey and I found it fascinating. Everything seemed so old and a bit eerie.
There can be an eerie (in a good way) feeling when visiting some of these places. I’d like to tour Washington’s HQ in NJ, too.
Fascinating, I absolutely love exploring writers’ life, from their beginnings to what they did and what inspired them to produce their masterpieces. Also when I go to famous castles where kings lived, I always try to find the human element, instead of only the common history you can study in textbooks.
Thanks, Angela — I totally agree!
I always find it interesting to see where famous people lived and how they got their start. As I was reading this I realized that I knew very little about Hemingway’s personal life.
There are certainly a lot of interesting aspects of Hemingway’s life to explore!
II’ve never read a word of Hemingway but since I’m living in Spain now it would be a good time to try and maybe visit some locations he wrote about.
I’d definitely like to visit places in Spain that Hemingway wrote about. Hope you’ll do it!
I don’t want to sound silly, but I have never read that book… I will have to check it out if both you and Ayngelina love it.
Jade – I am almost positive that you will love it!
Great post, Cathy! I find writers’ lives and their inspirations to be fascinating. We have a new bar/cafe in Sydney named after him, and pays homage to his life with photographs, books etc. You may have seen my review on it. Very cool place!
Thanks, Corinne! Glad you mentioned your post. I somehow missed that one, so just read it. Here’s the link for others to check it out, too. http://www.gourmantic.com/2011/06/09/hemingways-manly-cocktails-in-the-afternoon-bearded-men/
I’m so glad to learn about the Hemingway house and museum in Oak Park. Next time I’m in Chicago, I’ll have to check it out. Saw his house in Key West and would LOVE to go to his Cuba haunts. Last year was in Paris and tried to see (from the outside) some of his places there. (A Moveable Feast makes a pretty good guide to Paris.)
You could spend a year tracking him around the globe.
But if you have not been to Key West–do see Hemingway’s place there. Very evocative.
I’d love to experience his Cuba haunts, too. Maybe next time I’m in Paris, I’ll bring my copy of “A Moveable Feast”.
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