Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

Tour Herbert Hoover's two-room birthplace cottage, a blacksmith shop, a Quaker meetinghouse and the Hoover gravesite.

110 Parkside Dr · West Branch, IA

About Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

This National Park Service site preserves the West Branch neighborhood where Herbert Hoover was born in 1874. You can step into the two-room birthplace cottage, just 14 by 20 feet, see a blacksmith shop like the one his father ran, and visit the Friends Meetinghouse and the first West Branch schoolhouse. Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover are buried here, and an 81-acre restored tallgrass prairie is part of the grounds. The park charges no entrance fee; the Presidential Library and Museum is separate.

#presidential birthplace
#national historic site
#herbert hoover
#tallgrass prairie

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What's around here?

The closest stops to Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

Museums
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum
Under $25
Presidential library and museum honoring the 31st president, Herbert Hoover, and First Lady Lou Henry Hoover, run by the National Archives.
Right next doorSwitch it up: Museums
Museums
Rainy-Day Pick
University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art
No admission fee
See Jackson Pollock's Mural and a large African art collection for free in the University of Iowa's art museum, rebuilt in 2022.
Transit: reachable by public transit
9.9 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums
Sports & Outdoors
Lake Macbride State Park
Check prices
A lakeside state park in Johnson County, Iowa, offering trails, swimming, boating, fishing, camping, and winter recreation.
14 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors
Sightseeing
History Buff
Amana Colonies
No admission fee
Wander seven historic German villages with a working woolen mill, bakeries, craft shops, restaurants and small museums.
29 mi awayMore like this
Sightseeing
High Amana General Store
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A historic general store in High Amana, Iowa, dating to the communal era and still furnished much as it was.
32 mi awayMore like this
Sightseeing
Cedar Rock State Park
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An Iowa state park centered on a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home set on a limestone bluff above the Wapsipinicon River.
55 mi awayMore like this