Nina Simone's Childhood Home, a white clapboard house with black trim.

photo by: Nancy Pierce

July 16, 2019

Take a Virtual Tour of Nina Simone's Childhood Home

At once deeply intimate and profoundly universal, Nina Simone has made a mark on millions. But as preservationists, we often wonder: How did the places in her life make a mark on the artist, musician, and activist Nina would become?

Nina Simone's childhood home, though unquestionably humble, is a National Treasure. Its weathered upright piano, rusty potbelly stove, linoleum remnants, and flaking teal paint represent Nina's earliest years, revealing how her home and the remote town of Tryon, North Carolina, shaped her.

Though the three-room home is not currently open to the public, you can explore it through a virtual reality tour from Google Arts & Culture, narrated by Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist, composer, actress, and playwright Nnenna Freelon.

Experience the full tour below.

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