Walt Whitman Birthplace

Summer Hours: Monday - Friday, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Saturday - Sunday, noon - 5 p.m.

Winter Hours: Wednesday - Friday, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.; Saturday - Sunday, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Closed on major holidays.

Admission: adults, $3; seniors and students, $2; children, $1; under 6, free. Call ahead for group tour information.

The marching band's cheerful music competes with the sun's rays and pushes its way through my office window. I can hear a shrill whistle and young football players scramble and toss and chatter. If I listen closely, I can also hear the whoop and chant of this year's cheerleaders and imagine them stretching their limbs and their lungs. Everyone is preparing for school.

For literary tourists looking for a last trip before school starts or literature fans looking to kick off another exciting school year, you may not be able to find a more inspiring tour than that of the Walt Whitman Birthplace.

Built in the early 1800s by Walt Whitman's father, this beautiful old home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It now serves as a museum and educational center maintained by the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association.

While touring . . .

Check out the other Whitman family homes built by the poet's forefathers. The Joseph Whitman House at 365 West Hills Road is thought to be the oldest house in the West Hills area of Long Island.

Stop by the office of the Long-Islander (313 Main Street, Huntington). The newspaper begun by Whitman in 1838 is still published and distributed to town residents today.

Walk through the South Huntington Public Library (2 Melville Road, Huntington Station) and let your mind return to 1837 when young Whitman taught school in this building then called Long Swamp School.

Add the site of the Woodbury School (on the corner of Woodbury Road and Jericho Turnpike) and the Schoolhouse (9 Singer Lane, Incorporated Village of the Branch Smithtown)--two other schools where Whitman taught.

Before you end your tour, you will want to stop by the Whitman Cemetery on Town Line Road. There you will find the final resting grounds for about 15 members of the Whitman family; however, Walt Whitman is not among them. The poet died in 1892 and is buried in the Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, New Jesery.

Go To Page: 1 2