Learn about John F. Kennedy at his presidential library and birthplace in Boston

  The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum

If you’re interested in presidents and politics, then you probably enjoy visits to presidential libraries, as well as to the historic homes in which these individuals lived. In Boston, you can explore the life of President John F. Kennedy at both his library and his birthplace, and the sites are accessible enough so that you can see them on the same day. This week is as good a time as any to pay tribute to the nation’s 35th president, as you can also celebrate what would have been his 92nd birthday on Friday, May 29.

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum is part of a 10-acre park that overlooks the sea at Columbia Point in Boston. One of 13 presidential libraries in the country, it is housed in a building designed by I.M. Pei and is meant to evoke the Cape Cod landscape that played such a big part in the president’s life. There is an introductory film narrated in President Kennedy’s voice and two dozen multimedia exhibits that focus on important features of his presidency. These include the civil rights movement, space program, Peace Corps, and Cuban Missile Crisis. A 115-foot high glass pavilion provides a view of the sea and the Boston skyline.

John F. Kennedy birthplace

President Kennedy was born in the Boston suburb of Brookline and spent the first four years of his childhood there. That home is now the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site and it was restored in the 1960s by the president’s mother, Rose Kennedy, to its 1917 appearance. The building is located on tree-lined Beals Street, not far from Coolidge Corner, and is easily reached by public transportation from downtown Boston. Visitors can take a self-guided audio tour of the building, and ranger-led tours may also be available.

Photo credit: Fcb981 via Wikimedia Commons.