Nestled in the scenic Republican Valley, Red Cloud, Nebraska has probably been described more often in literature than any other village of its size. This Webster County Seat was once the home of Willa Cather.

  Willa Cather (1873-1947), the noted American author, came from Virginia with her family to live in Webster County when she was nine years old. She graduated from high school in Red Cloud, attended the University in Lincoln for five years, then moved to the East where she spent the rest of her life. 
    The years in Red Cloud were important and formative years in the writer's life. Six of he 12 novels, including the Pulitzer Prize winning novel ONE OF OURS are set, at least in part, in the Red Cloud and Webster County of her youth.

                                     Tour Schedule
Departure schedule to be announced. I will have coffee, orange juice, & fresh muffins as we travel to York for our first break.                            
Lunch at The Palace - home town restaurant with a large variety of delicious county style food. 

We start our tour with a drive around the Republican River Valley to see some of the settings from the author’s numerous books.  After the county part of our tour we will next be acquainted with Red Cloud of the 1890’s. We will see the Cather Museum;  the Art Gallery and Bookstore (Willa Cather Foundation);  Cather’s Childhood Home; Harling House and Wick Cutter’s home ( both My Antonia);  the restored Burlington Railroad Depot;  Grace Episcopal Church (Cather was a member);  the St. Juliana Falconieri Catholic Church;  and much more..

Depart from Red Cloud. Iced tea, lemonade, and cookies for an afternoon snack as we head back.  Stop in York  for supper (on your own).

Return home after a beautiful day in Red Cloud.  

         Willa Cather
            1873 - 1947
Pulitzer Prize winning author of:
• The Kingdom of Art, 1893-1896
• The World and the Parish, 1893-1902
• April Twilights, 1903
• The Troll Garden, 1905
• Alexander's Bridge, 1912
• Collected Short Fiction, 1892-1912
• O Pioneers!, 1913
• The Song of the Lark, 1915
• My Antonia, 1918
• Youth and the Bright Medusa, 1920
• One of Ours, 1922
• A Lost Lady, 1923
• April Twilights, 1923
• The Professor's House, 1925
• My Mortal Enemy, 1926
• Death Comes for theArchbishop,1927
• Uncle Valentine and Other Stories
• Shadows on the Rock, 1931
• Obscure Destinies, 1932
• Lucy Gayheart, 1935
• Not Under Forty, 1936
• Sapphira and the Slave Girl, 1940
• The Old Beauty and Others, 1948
• Willa Cather on Writing, 1949
• Willa Cather in Europe, 1956
• Five Stores, 1956
• Early Stories