What our childhood homes mean to us

More stories from other writers coming soon to The Akenside Project.

In writing my memoir over these past few years, I’ve noticed something interesting. When I mention I’m writing a book set in my childhood home, many people open up about their childhood homes. They tell me stories about the place they grew up and how they still think about it. They give me vivid details of what it looked like and why it meant so much to them.

Turns out it’s actually pretty common to feel a strong pull towards the place where you spent your formative years. 

An attachment to one’s childhood home is so common in fact, that social psychologist Jerry Burger has conducted research about people who visit their former homes. I only recently stumbled across his book Returning Home: Reconnecting with Our Childhoods. According to Burger’s research, one third of American adults over the age of 30 have visited a childhood home. 

A book I recently discovered and ordered from the library.

My newsletter was initially meant to be a place to house the stories that didn’t neatly fit into my book. It’s named The Akenside Project after the street where I grew up in Riverside, Illinois. I enjoyed sharing nuggets from my research on the house on Akenside¹, like the missing corner tower, the Victorian paint job, and a stained glass window discovery. 

But I’m not the only one who has stories to tell.

For obvious reasons, I’m drawn to writers who write about the meaning of home. Starting next week, I’ll begin sharing interviews with some of these writers whose childhood homes left an impact on them. I’m really excited to share this new evolution of The Akenside Project and hope you’ll find these stories as fascinating as I do. 

1. The street is named after Mark Akenside, an 18th-century English poet and physician who wrote a poem I haven’t read called “The Pleasures of the Imagination.”