Robert Penn Warren Birthplace


This is the birthplace of Robert Penn Warren. He lived at this house for a very short time. After his leaving this house the house sold several times until being purchased by a group of local residents named The Committee For the Preservation of The Robert Penn Warren Birthplace In Todd County.

The house is open to visitors singly and in groups and contains items involved with Warren's life. For sale are books both by Warren and about Warren.

The house is open for visitation during the hours: Thursday thru Saturday: 11:30AM-3:30PM CST CLOSED SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. OTHER HOURS BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.
Click here for a map to the home.

Robert Penn Warren Birthplace Museum

Third and Cherry Streets
122 Cherry St
Guthrie, Kentucky 42234

Mailing address:
P.O. Box 525
Guthrie, Kentucky 42234

Telephone: (270) 483-1004
To assure that a guide is available to take you through the house, please call (270) 604-7760 before your visit
Tours can be given by appointment only.

The Birthplace House Museum will be closed for repairs starting Saturday Dec 16th and will reopen Thursday Jan 11th.


What Voice at Moth-Hour

  • What voice at moth-hour did I hear calling
  • As I stood in the orchard while the white
  • Petals of apple blossoms were falling,
  • Whiter than moth-wing in that twilight?
  •  
  • What voice did I hear as I stood by the stream,
  • Bemused in the murmurous wisdom there uttered
  • While ripples at stone, in their steely gleam,
  • Caught last light before it was shuttered?
  •  
  • What voice did I hear as I wandered alone
  • In a premature night of cedar, beech, oak,
  • Each foot set soft, then still as stone
  • Standing to wait while the first owl spoke?
  •  
  • The voice that I heard once at dew-fall, I now
  • Can hear by a simple trick. If I close
  • My eyes, in that dusk I again know
  • The feel of damp grass between bare toes
  •  
  • Can see the last zigzag, sky-skittering, high,
  • Of a bullbat, and even hear, far off, from
  • Swamp-cover, the whip-o-will, and as I
  • Once heard, hear the voice It's late! Come home!
from Rumor Verified Copyright ©1980 by Robert Penn Warren, reprinted by permission of William Morris Agency, on behalf of the author.