Group Tours
Experience Willa Cather's Red Cloud
Visit Red Cloud—our unique small town on the prairie—and meet Willa Cather, Nebraska’s foremost citizen and author of O Pioneers!, My Ántonia & One of Ours
Willa Cather once said, “I always return to Nebraska.”
The National Willa Cather Center is located in the quiet rural prairie town of Red Cloud, Nebraska and is the childhood home of writer Willa Cather. Alongside the Red Cloud Opera House, it has become a cultural oasis on the Great Plains. Ten historic buildings—and a 612-acre tract of preserved original prairie—comprise the largest collection of sites related to any American author.
To Visit Red Cloud is to encounter a town and entire landscapes that are largely unchanged and as world-famous author Willa Cather knew them as a young girl.
Enjoy an immersive and historic experience and let us create the perfect itinerary—and meal—for your timeframe. Basic tour packages are $10 per person or $25 per person (including a boxed lunch, with tax).
Whether you have a few hours, a half day, or all day—let us arrange the perfect customized tour itinerary within your timeframe!
What Your Group Can Experience
- Visit the fully-restored Willa Cather Childhood home—which reopened on the author's 150th birthday on December 8, 2023—and other sites related to her life and writing in our guided tours
- Hike, picnic, star-gaze dark skies, or watch the sunrise and sunset at the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie
- Take a guided Prairie Tour with our expert Master Naturalist
- Explore our exhibits, American Bittersweet: The Life & Writing of Willa Cather and Making A Place: A Long History of Red Cloud — and changing art installations in our galleries
- Enjoy scenic country roads or take a Cather Country Tour of rural settings in the author's novels, including the Pavelka Farmstead, the famed setting at the end of Willa Cather's My Ántonia
- Shop at the National Willa Cather Center Bookstore for curated books and gifts
- Tour the extensive Collections & Archives at the National Willa Cather Center
- Take in a performance at the Red Cloud Opera House
- Enjoy a delicious lunch served in our beautiful Red Cloud Opera House Art Gallery — or a picnic on the prairie!
Exclusive Offerings for Bus Tours
- Free meal & tours for bus drivers/tour escorts
- Complimentary bus parking
- Discount on group lodging in Red Cloud
- On-site tour coordinator
Meals & Lodging
- Delicious catered lunches are available with prior arrangement
- The historic Cather Second Home offers lodging for small groups of fifteen or less
- The boutique Hotel Garber will open in spring 2025 with twenty-seven rooms and breakfast options
"The Center of Everything"
Red Cloud is in south-central Nebraska on the Kansas border—just over an hour between I-70 & I-80 on U.S. 281—and 20 miles north of the Geographic Center of the USA. Exit off the Interstate to a scenic rural byway and straight into our delightful prairie world.
To plan and book your tour, contact:
Nick Powers, Visitor Services Coordinator at npowers@willacather.org or (402) 746-2653.