Kennedy home on Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site

PARK OVERVIEW

John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site preserves the Kennedy Family’s Beals Street house in Brookline, Massachusetts. It is here that the 35^th president of the United States was born in 1917 and lived until he was three years old. When John was assassinated in 1963, the house had been out of the family for over forty years. However, in 1965 the Kennedys were able to purchase it from the current owner. Rose Kennedy (John’s mother) hired decorator Robert Luddington, and together they created a memorial to John and furnished the house as it was in 1917 (to the best of Rose’s memory). The renovation took three years, and when done, the house was donated to the National Park Service. It opened to the public in 1969.

Visitors to the Kennedy House can utilize the limited street parking near the house (two-hour time limit) or take public transportation. The Coolidge Corner Station trolley stop is just a half mile from the house.

Visitors can also take a 1.6-mile walking tour of the Brookline neighborhood to see the house on Abbottsford Road that the Kennedys moved into after the Beals Street house became too small, as well as the school and church that John attended as a young boy. Park Rangers also lead a daily tour to the Abbottsford house, and only to the house, so you must walk the rest of the neighborhood tour on your own. (The Abbottsford house in now privately owned and not open to the public.)

OPERATING HOURS

• June through October
• Thursday – Sunday
• 10 AM to 5 PM

While the park is closed from November through May, you can still schedule a tour of the Kennedy’s Beals Street house on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Email the park for a reservation at least two weeks in advance. Tours are subject to staff availability and can be cancelled due to bad weather. The email link is on the Guided Tours web page for the park

Times can always change, so before making travel plans, be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s official Operating Hours and Seasons web page for the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site.

FEES

There is no charge to visit the park or tour the Kennedy house.

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

Kennedy’s Beals Street House Tour
allow 1 hour

Neighborhood Walking Tour
allow 1 hour

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