The National Trust's newest National Treasure, Nina Simone's childhood home, is one of the few existing places tied to the musician and activist before she became famous for her diverse repertoire and strong belief in civil rights. In 2017, four artists—Adam Pendleton, Rashid Johnson, Ellen Gallagher, and Julie Mehretu—purchased the house in Tryon, North Carolina, and will be working with the National Trust and other partners to preserve this part of Simone's early life and bring her international legacy back home, to where she was known as Eunice Kathleen Waymon, daughter to a Methodist minister and the owner of a dry cleaning business.

Raised in the small clapboard house in Tryon, North Carolina, Waymon began playing the piano informally as a toddler. Her parents and the community recognized her obvious talent, and she was soon performing in church and taking proper lessons with a local teacher.

By 1954, after studying briefly at the Julliard, a young Eunice Waymon was a piano teacher herself, giving lessons in Philadelphia. After learning from some of her students that they had earned lucrative summer jobs playing in Atlantic City (which was then segregated), Waymon was hired at the Midtown Bar and Grill on Pacific Avenue. She had never played in a bar before, and, worried that her mother would be displeased, changed her name to Nina Simone. It was an average bar, unassuming, and after playing the piano a few hours, Simone's boss informed her she needed to sing.