Robert Burns and his family came to live in this simple two storey sandstone house in Mill Street, Dumfries in May 1793. This new house offered the space they needed for their growing family, a parlour where they could entertain guests and even a small study in which Burns could write. Robert Burns only spent three years here. He died in July 1796, and was buried close by in St Michael’s churchyard on the same day that Jean gave birth to their ninth child. His death left her a widow, at just 31 years old. Jean remained in the house in Mill Street, and the house became a monument to her late husband – a place where those who admired his work could visit and pay their respects. She lived there herself for another 38 years, until her death in 1834. In 1903 the Town Council of Dumfries took on the lease of Burns House. Working with Dumfries Burns Club they improved the arrangements for viewing the house. The core of a museum collection on Robert Burns was begun and the larger of the two bedrooms was set out as a museum. Dumfries Burns Club contributed their items to the display, and after an appeal other collectors added their objects to the exhibition. Today Robert Burns House is part of Dumfries and Galloway Museums Service, and is run by Dumfries and Galloway Council. The house gives a picture of how the poet and his family lived in the late eighteenth century, and visitors can see his desk and chair in the study where he wrote his best known poems. Also on display are the famous Kilmarnock and Edinburgh editions of his work along with many original manuscripts and belongings of the poet and his family.