National Willa Cather Center

Your visit to the National Willa Cather Center isn't complete without taking time to browse the exhibit American Bittersweet: The Life and Writing of Willa Cather. This engaging exhibit will allow you to explore the life and legacy of Willa Cather through informative narratives that are interwoven with priceless historical photographs and artifacts. The exhibit’s name, taken from the American bittersweet vine that grows outside Cather’s childhood home in Red Cloud, Nebraska, explores and embraces the complexities of Cather’s life and art—domesticity and worldliness; home and travel; happiness and sadness; the bitter and the sweet.

After undergoing an extensive restoration, the Burlington Depot will now house interpretive panels and hands-on activities organized around the workings of the railroad. The sights—and the sounds!—of the depot have been recreated using audio effects, vivid graphics, and interactive elements that bring history to life through personal stories of the people who passed through the station.