Beals Street is a fairly ordinary residential neighborhood in Brookline, and the blue-colored home at number 83 seems almost indistinguishable from all the others. Yet it holds a tremendous amount of history as the birthplace and childhood home of one of the most iconic presidents in U.S. history.
On May 29, 1917, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy gave birth to her second son, future president John F. Kennedy, in the upstairs bedroom of the family home. Her husband, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. had purchased the house a few years earlier, in 1914, shortly after their marriage. Kennedy’s sisters, Rosemary and Kathleen, were also born in the house in 1918 and 1920, respectively. The family lived on Beals Street for only a few years before moving to a larger home a few blocks away.
After JFK’s assassination in 1963, thousands of mourners gathered outside the house for a special day of mourning service. In 1966, the Kennedy family repurchased the home and donated it to the National Park Service three years later. Rose Kennedy spent the following years restoring the house to its 1917 appearance. About 20 percent of the artifacts displayed today are original to the Kennedy family, while the rest are authentic to the time period or reproductions.
The Kennedy home is an absolute must-see for anyone interested in presidential history. Meticulously preserved, it offers visitors not only a glimpse into the daily life of the Kennedy family, but also of a middle-class household in the early 20th century. The park rangers on site are extremely knowledgeable, and visitors can even listen to audio records made by Rose Kennedy herself during the restoration, in which she describes various parts of the house.
