At a glance Red Cloud, NE seems like a literary theme park devoted to the works of author Willa Cather. The surrounding prairie sprinkled with farmsteads, country churches and graveyards all visually harken to scenes from Cather's My Antonia, Oh Pioneers, Song of the Lark and One of Ours. Likewise, in town various houses, a bank, a hotel and an opera house are referenced in her Nebraska novels. Her novels so lovingly captured Red Cloud's sense of place that you know the town before you arrive. Cather's childhood environment is remarkably well preserved.
When Cather left Red Cloud in 1890 at age 16 to study at the University of Nebraska, the town's population was around 1,800 people. The new town was bustling with people, a mixture of native-born Americans and immigrants from Bohemia, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. They were all trying their best to make a life for themselves on this harsh prairie full of conflict, pain, suffering, joy and triumph. This hubbub, this cosmopolitan mishmash of people struggling, shaped Cather's worldview. The population of Red Cloud is now a little less than 1,000 people. The lack of economic pressure has kept many of the buildings Cather referenced from being bulldozed. The Willa Cather Foundation is restoring Cather-related structures. Cather's girlhood home recently reopened for tours following a 16-month restoration. The home now rests upon a new foundation and is topped with new cedar shingles. With new systems in place, the home is comfortable to visit on a hot summer day. The home is a modest one-and-a-half story frame house. The downstairs has period style wallpaper, furniture, and a few items original to the Cather home.
Cather's childhood bedroom is up a steep stairway, tucked away in the attic. The original wallpaper has been cleaned and conserved. This is a special place.
Her novels are a celebration of the immigrant experience in Nebraska. Those Bohemians, Danes, Swedes and Norwegians helped build and shape the state just as enslaved involuntary immigrants built the U.S. Capitol and White House, as German, Irish and Italian immigrants built the Brooklyn Bridge, and as Chinese immigrants built the western half of the Transcontinental Railroad. Current Mexican immigrants just built the wheelchair ramp at the entrance to our store. Our contractor said, without immigrants, he couldn't build anything. Willa Cather stories are America's story of immigration and assimilation.
If you haven't read Cather, you are in for a treat. If you are traveling anywhere nearby Red Cloud, you should drop by and take a look. Walking and driving tours are available at the Willa Cather Center in downtown Red Cloud. For every Birkenstock we sell this weekend (Saturday, August 3, 2024 through Sunday, August 4, 2024), we will donate $5 toward the Willa Cather Foundation's effort to save significant structures in Red Cloud and the surrounding countryside.
Take a walk with Birkenstock.
