Nursery

All the Kennedy children slept in this bassinet.

NPS / Robert Perron

Quick Facts

Location:

83 Beals Street, Brookline, MA

John "Jack" Kennedy shared the nursery with his brother Joe. As an infant, Jack slept in the white wicker bassinet, as did all of his brothers and sisters and later his own children, Caroline and John Jr.

The furnishings include toys — puzzles, blocks, trains, a toy cannon, a teddy bear — and a range of picture and story books selected by Rose Kennedy to illustrate her children's entertainment.

Two of Jack's favorite childhood books are on the chair, King Arthur and his Knights and Billy Whiskers. King Arthur was a book Mrs. Kennedy really liked—a story about knights and chivalry, performing heroic deeds and full of many of the same types of values that she was trying to instill in young Jack. Billy Whiskers is a book of which she disapproved. he story is about a mischievous goat and she felt that the boys were getting into enough trouble on their own without being inspired by Billy Whiskers.

Once their younger sisters were born, the boys moved into the guest room down the hall.