John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site
The John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site is the birthplace and childhood home of John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States. The house is at 83 Beals Street in the Coolidge Corner neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts. Kennedy is one of four U.S. presidents born in Norfolk County, Massachusetts.[3] The property is now owned by the National Park Service; tours of the house are offered, and a film is presented.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
National Historic Site
The Kennedy home was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964, and was established as a National Historic Site on May 26, 1967.[4][5]
Description[edit]
The house:[11]
Visitors can tour each of these rooms by both the ranger led and the self-guided tours.
The basement: The basement is the visitors' entrance and National Park visitor center. There is a public restroom and a small Eastern National retail shop. Visitors can view the exhibits and photographs and watch a film.
Living room:
Visitors to the Kennedy home would have been shown into the living room, or parlor as it would have been called when the family lived there. Here, visitors can see both a space for formal entertaining within the home, but also a space where the family would relax in the evenings when the children were getting ready for bed and when Joe Kennedy returned from his office in Boston. The piano dominating the parlor belonged to Rose Kennedy and is one of the original pieces in the home. It was a wedding gift from two of her uncles.
Dining room:[12]
The dining room has the home's most complete collection of Kennedy artifacts. The china was Rose's wedding china. The table would not have been set with a formal place setting for day to day meals. Rose Kennedy set the table this way because as she was turning the house into a museum, she was expecting company. Meals were a time for the family to have lively discussions about topics that ranged from history, to politics, current events and religion. Rose was fond of saying "history is shaped by those who get their ideas across"[13] and mealtime discussions were a staple in the Kennedy home. Meals were a formal affair, with the family assembling in the dining room and the food brought from the kitchen by a uniformed maid.
Master bedroom:
The master bedroom is where Jack, Rosemary and Kathleen Kennedy were born. Jack Kennedy was born at 3:00pm on May 29, 1917.[14] Rose Kennedy had seven of her nine children at home, and the same doctor, Dr. Good, delivered all of them, as well as the final two who were born in a hospital. The bedroom has several photographs, including the 6 month old baby pictures of Joe Jr., Jack, Rosemary, and Kathleen.
Nursery:
The nursery has a bassinet that would eventually hold each of the nine Kennedy children, as well as a christening cap, gown, and a number of books and toys Joe Jr. and Jack would have played with. Visitors can see Jack's two favorite books: King Arthur and his Knights and Billy Whiskers and His Kids.
Guest bedroom:
The guest bedroom showcases linens bearing Rose's initials, REF, and Rosemary Kennedy's toiletry set. The guest room was converted to a girl's bedroom as soon as Rosemary and Kathleen were born.
Boudoir:
The boudoir was Rose's private space as well as her office space. She would use the desk to keep track of the accounts of the household and to do her correspondence. The desk showcases a card file. Rose kept an index card for each of her children where she would list important milestones in their medical history - things like vaccinations, major illnesses and hospital stays, as well as birthdays and confirmation dates. Jack Kennedy's card is on the desk.
Kitchen:
The kitchen would have been the domain of the household's servants. It was modern for the time; the stove is a combination coal and gas, and the family had an electric toaster as well as a large icebox. Servants would have frequented the kitchen and the basement, which at the time would have been used for laundry.
3rd floor:
The third floor is not included on the tours. It has two attic rooms the servants used. Rose Kennedy hired both a French and an Irish girl, Alice Michelin and Mary O'Donahue[11] as the maid-of-all-work and nanny in the house. Their bedrooms were on the third floor. More information on domestic servants is on the park's website. The third floor was not restored by Rose Kennedy along with the rest of the house in the 1960s. This was due to the fact she did not have a complete memory of those rooms. Today, they are the park's administrative offices.
Visiting information[edit]
As of January 2023, the site is closed for Visitor Center renovations and other needed maintenance. Renovations were slowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The site is tentatively scheduled to reopen in Summer 2023.[15]