In addition, Washingtons councils of war were held here, probably in the dining room, which was apparently located in the front room on the right side of the house. It was here that it happened. One can imagine it overflowing with books and manuscripts during the poets productive life, but now it is tidy and feels rather ghostly, with Longfellows stand-up writing desk next to the window and a powerful-looking wooden armchair by the fireplace. CHS Archival Resources Longfellow House Overview: The Longfellow House's archival collections are made up of materials ranging in date from 1659 to the 1950s and are primarily organized around the papers of multiple generations of the Dana and Longfellow families. [5] Vassall, who kept an usually high number of people enslaved on the property,[6] served for a time as a warden of nearby Christ Church. Homes of Famous Writers - Touring the Best NeverStopTraveling The House Where Longfellow Lived. Like Mount Vernon, the house was situated on a large estate, surrounded by farmland tended by slaves, and it likewise offered a view of a major river, in this case the Charles River. By that time the Craigie house that had once been Washingtons headquarters would be enshrined as the Longfellow House, so well-known and admired for its chaste architectural grandeur that replicas would be built around the country and a mail-order version offered in the 1918 Sears Roebuck catalogue. Wadsworth-Longfellow House, Portland, Maine. The Longfellow House on Brattle Street in Cambridge, around 1910-1920. This article originally appeared in the June 2013 issue of American History magazine. They sounded like something close to the American heartbeat. Longfellow had a personality that trended toward depression, but overall he did a good job of keeping the darkness at bay throughout some harrowing experiences. Its fame continued to grow after Longfellow's death. [3] He inherited the land along what was called the King's Highway in Cambridge when he was 21. [14] They also entertained very often. The cannons on the hill made the British position in Boston untenable, forcing their commander, General William Howe, to choose between abandoning the town or risking a Bunker Hill-style assault on Dorchester Heights. The mansion sat on top of a raised terrace and commanded a view down to the Charles River. They intended to return once the situation improved, but they ultimately evacuated Boston with the rest of the British fleet in March 1776. For a time, General Horatio Gates also lived here, and Martha Washington arrived here to live with her husband in December 1775. [22] Craigie married Elizabeth while living in the house; she was the daughter of a Nantucket clergyman and only 22 years old, 17 years younger than he. Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site preserves the home of Henry W. Longfellow, one of the world's foremost 19th century poets. Built in the Georgian style in 1759.; It served as the headquarters of George Washington (1775-1776). It became a National Historic Site in 1972, and is now known as the Longfellow National Historic Site. There are also some documents connected to the history of the family during the colonial period in the Wadsworth-Longfellow family papers. The year was 1837. [14] On Twelfth Night in January 1776, the couple celebrated their wedding anniversary in the home. Washington remained here at his headquarters for the next few weeks, before leaving on April 4. Garden filled with examples of New England plant life. His first book, Outre-Mer, had been published in 1835, but it was here in this house that Longfellow would establish himself as one of the leading writers of 19th century America. [16], Martha Washington joined her husband in December 1775 and stayed until March 1776. The deeper wounds were likewise never displayed, but of course they were there, emerging in lines like these from a posthumously published sonnet called The Cross of Snow: Here in this room she died; and soul more white/Never through martyrdom of fire was led/To its repose.. He first went to Europe in 1826 at the age of 19, having convinced his indulgent lawyer father that in order to pursue a career as a professor of modern languages he needed the opportunity to master those languages in the countries where they were spoken. 4,114 were here. In 1972, the home and all of its furnishings were donated to the National Park Service, and it is open to the public seasonally. [21] He hosted Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn in the ballroom; Prince Edward was the father of Queen Victoria. [6] It was then renovated by the Kodet Architectural Group. He attempted to quell the flames, managing to keep her face from burning,[44] but he was burned on his own face and was scarred badly enough that he began growing a beard to hide it.[45]. This reflected the significant wealth of the Vassall family, which itself was largely derived from enslaved labor on the familys sugar plantations. During the Longfellow familys ownership of the house, from 1843-1872, little changed externally on the house: a billiard room at the back was built and later changed, and a second floor balcony was added. Now the Joshua L. Chamberlain Museum, the house is in the care of the Pejepscot Historical Society. The site also possesses some 750,000 original documents relevant to the former occupants of the home. Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site preserves the home of Henry W. Longfellow, one of the world's foremost 19th century poets. Longfellow House conveys so strongly a sense of hearth and home that its easy to forget what a driven traveler its owner wasWant action, he once complained in a letter to a friend, want to travelam too excitedtoo tumultuous inwardly. It was no armchair poet who sat in that spreading chestnut armchair. [39] The family hosted artists, writers, politicians and other famous people. [33][32] Longfellow's friend George Washington Greene reminded them "how noble an inheritance this is where Washington dwelt in every room". His wartime service had been distinguished but not overly remarkable, yet by the summer of 1775 he was viewed by many patriots as the best choice to lead the newly-organized army. The garden was recently restored by an organization called Friends of the Longfellow House, which completed the final stage of its reconstruction, the historic pergola, in 2008. HOUSE HISTORY DIRECTIONS / CONTACT Rear of the Longfellow House The house that is now known as the Longfellow House was originally built in 1759 by John Vassall. These meetings were attended by his top generals, including such notable figures as Artemas Ward, Charles Lee, Israel Putnam, and Nathanael Greene. During the Siege of Boston, he found the view of the Charles River from the house particularly useful. History Cambridge 159 Brattle Street Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 617-547-4252 info@historycambridge.org [52], In 1994, locals established the Friends of the Longfellow House, a nonprofit organization which raises funds to supplement federal support for the site and to assist with ongoing preservation projects. Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. So it was that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow knocked at the door of 105 Brattle Street in Cambridge, MA to see the widow Craigie about a room to rent. [1] The demographic that fell the most during that time was not children, but adults. How to Cite this Site | Website Policies - Terms of use, (207) 774-1822 [1] Built in 1907, the house was neither seen nor lived in by Longfellow (who died in 1882), but was the home of an admiring Minneapolis businessman named Robert "Fish" Jones. For more information on this and other sources, please see the bibliography. Here in this room she died: The words take on eerie power as you stand in the library of Longfellows house, where Fanny Longfellow caught fire that dreadful July day, or in the bedroom where she died the next morning. He had his grand home designed in the modern style, Georgian, popular in England among the upper class. Both houses reflect the family's ties to the American Revolution. [2] [7] Vassall's house and all his other properties were confiscated by Patriots in September 1774 on the eve of the American Revolutionary War because he was accused of being loyal to the King. The eccentric, beturbaned Mrs. Craigie turned Longfellow away at first when he inquired about a room, thinking he was just another unreliable student. [4] In 1791, Andrew Craigie added the two side porches and the two-story back ell and also expanded the library into a twenty by thirty foot ballroom with its own entrance. Her indifference drove him into gloomy reflection, but also into a remarkable creative stretch in which he produced, among other works, poems such as The Wreck of the Hesperus, The Village Blacksmith and the universally beloved-when-not-reviled anthem to the power of positive thinking A Psalm of Life: Life is real! Craigie House served for a time as George Washington's Revolutionary War headquarters. They made their way first to Halifax and then to England, where they continued to prosper despite having all of their Massachusetts property confiscated. The homes of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow be thine. He came to be seen, notes his recent biographer Charles C. Calhoun, as a symbol of everything that a writer should not be., Longfellows study, where Washington had met with his generals and with Benjamin Franklin, and where he came to the conclusion that America must declare its independence from Great Britain, is an intimate room off the entry hall. [46] The park was left undeveloped as a way to preserve an unobstructed view of the Charles River from the house. The bearded Longfellow, captured in photographs a few years later, seems a different man. [14] Washington was visited at the house by John Adams and Abigail Adams, Benedict Arnold, Henry Knox, and Nathanael Greene. Surviving household accounts show that the family purchased large quantities of beef, lamb, wild ducks, geese, fresh fish, plums, peaches, barrels of cider, gallons of brandy and rum,[18] and 217 bottles of Madeira wine purchased in a two-week period.[19]. He came home to Maine, taught French and Spanish at Bowdoin College, published essays and translations, married the daughter of a Portland judge, was offered a professorship at Harvard and wrote Outre-Mer, the book that brought him to the notice of his future landlady. The Balkans: Landscapes and Memories of Yugoslavia, Peru: Machu Picchu and the Last Incan Bridges, Antiques and Their Afterlives: Stories from the Collection of Ryan and Regina Cohn, Monster of the Month w/ Colin Dickey: Gilles de Rais, Think Like A Museum: Curate Your Personal Collection with Alexis Hyde, Historical Nonfiction: Research-Based Writing With Hadley Meares, 3D Paper Art: Pop-Ups and Paper Engineering With Yoojin Kim, Big Shots, Small Creatures: Macro Photography With Joseph Saunders, How to Read a Landscape: Botany & Ecology With Annie Novak, Rewilding His Corner of Ireland's Beara Peninsula Is One Man's Labor of Love, Podcast: A Whale of a Tale with Daniel Kraus, Meet the Glowing 'Worms' of the American South, Preserving the LGBTQ Legacy of One of America's Most Historic Homes, http://www.longfellowfriends.org/index.php, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longfellow_House%E2%80%93Washington%27s_Headquarters_National_Historic_Site. The Wadsworth-Longfellow family papers include materials associated with Stephen Longfellow (1723-1790) and Peleg Wadsworth (1748-1829). Longfellow spoke eight languages, wrote or translated as a young professor his own French and Spanish textbooks, later formed the famous Dante Club in which, canto by canto, he tried out his translation of The Divine Comedy in front of great minds like William Dean Howells, James Russell Lowell and Charles Eliot Norton. In July 1775, George Washington chose the large and strategically located home to serve as his official wartime headquarters, the irony assuredly lost on the exiled Vassall family. He was the most cosmopolitan American writer of his age, enriching his countrys cultural life with European thought and poetic forms. During the Federal period following the Revolution, Andrew Craigie expanded on the already grand structure. It was in this house that Longfellow wrote Evangeline and The Song of Hiawatha. Beloved poems like The Childrens Hour were set within its rooms. [13] She used the front parlor as her personal reception room, still furnished with the English-made furniture left behind by the Vassalls. Longfellow - Cambridge Merchant Nathaniel Tracy owned it from 1781 to 1786, and then another merchant, Thomas Russell, owned it until 1791, It was then purchased by Andrew Craigie, a noted apothecary who had served as the first Apothecary General of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. This building is the only remaining full-scale replica of Longfellow's original home maintaining all the original historical character. Specific visitors included Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, singer Jenny Lind, and actress Fanny Kemble. The house was built in 1759 for Jamaican planter John Vassall Jr., who fled the Cambridge area at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War because of his loyalty to the king of England. A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine, During this time, he improved the house and the surrounding grounds, and he frequently held lavish parties here, with attendees such as Prince Edward, who was the father of Queen Victoria. The Longfellow House, Cambridge, Mass. It includes numerous nineteenth-century prints of the Longfellow House, emphasizing its role as Washingtons headquarters, as well as books, letters, and photographs documenting major anniversaries: the Revolution War centennial in 1876, the sesquicentennial of the Longfellow House in 1896, and the tercentenary of Cambridge in 1930. He had a large ell addition placed on the back of the house, as well as two symmetrical verandas on either side. The Longfellow House, Cambridge Enlarge [ digital file from intermediary roll film ] Download: JPEG (15.7 KB) GIF (14.3 KB) JPEG (93.6 KB) JPEG (469.6 KB) TIFF (108.3 MB) He was buried with both of his wives at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Longfellow died in 1882 and his daughter Alice Longfellow was the last of his children to live in the home. 1822: The Josiah Collidge House, a farmhouse, is . He never touches poetry.. Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters - Yelp , just take the redline into Harvard Square and walk about two blocks down Brattle Street. They were both vulnerable in their grief, though Longfellow seems to have fallen harder for Fanny than she did for him. The Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House is a time-capsule, containing within its architecture the changing taste of American homes throughout the centuries. The Wadsworth-Longfellow House, Portland, Maine. John Vassall built the house in 1759 as the centerpiece of a large property that extended to and across the Charles River. How will men speak of me when I am gone, Longfellow wrote in a verse play about Michelangelo, composed when he was in his late 60s. Longfellow House, Cambridge Massachusetts Photo: istockphoto.com If you find yourself in Cambridge, Massachusetts, visit Longfellow House. The site was renamed to Longfellow HouseWashington's Headquarters National Historic Site on December 22, 2010, to ensure that the connection to Washington was not lost in the memory of the general public.[49]. One of New Zealands few castles boasts beautiful gardens, grand architecture, and a history filled with family drama. They were once Gen. Washington's chambers". [34] Longfellow was proud of the connection to Washington and purchased a bust of him in 1844, a copy of the sculpture by Jean-Antoine Houdon. /And the grave is not its goal., A less stirring but more striking poem from this period is a sonnet called Mezzo Cammin that begins: Half of my life is gone, and I have let/The years slip from By 1775 she had gained her freedom, and she continued to write poems, many of which gave praise to notable public figures. [31], Joseph Emerson Worcester leased the property from Elizabeth Craigie's heirs after her death, and he rented the eastern half to Longfellow. Previously, the house served as headquarters for General George Washington during the Siege of Boston from 1775 to 1776. It presents an example of mid-Georgian architecture style. He carried her up to their second floor bedroom, known today as the Gold Ring room because of a large curtain ring that hangs from the ceiling over the sleigh bed. TRY OUR NEW MOBILE APP When Longfellow moved into the Craigie house, he could have had no idea that he would one day own it outright, that he would live and write there until he grew old and died, and would be laid out in the same room where his wife met her gruesome accident. Longfellow House. I live in a great house which looks like an Italian villa, Longfellow crowed to a friend after he moved in. | His Family Category : Longfellow National Historic Site - Wikimedia Following a number of name changes instituted by the National Park Service in recent years, the Cambridge, Massachusetts mansion that served for nearly 50 years as home to noted poet Henry Wordsworth Longfellow is now officially listed as the Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site. www.MaineHistory.org The house at that time was owned by Elizabeth Craigie, whose late husband, Andrew, had bought the property in 1791. Until then his clean-lined New Englanders face had been smooth-shaven, his eyes bright and beaming. His inheritance had included 56 acres of land here in Cambridge, and he wasted little time in improving the property after coming of age. Washingtons headquarters now became Longfellows headquarters, the seat of his ever-expanding fame and of his growing family. Offer subject to change without notice. It was also used as a headquarters by George Washington during . The Longfellow Bar is a neighborhood bar and restaurant located in the historic Caf Algiers in Harvard Square. titanic reputation. Its first owner, John Vassal, was a British sympathizer who fled at the Revolution's outset, in 1775, making the residence available to General George Washington and the Continental Army. . CHS Archival Resources - History Cambridge The Longfellow House - Before Henry Wadsworth Longfellow even moved in, his Cambridge homebuilt in 1759 of high-Georgian architecturehad already taken its place in American history. Alice was involved in a number of philanthropic causes and historic preservation efforts, including working with other family members to establish the Longfellow House Trust, which preserved the family home and its contents. | His Homes His poetry turned out to be too comfortable, too confirming, too crafted to withstand the 20th-century blast of modernist thought and the withdrawal of poetry from the open air of the marketplace and into the academic laboratories, where poems like his that lodged in the brain by virtue of their metrical regularity and transparent meaningListen my children and you shall hear/Of the midnight ride of Paul Revereoffered so little to dissect. Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site The three major collections that include Revolutionary America-related materials are the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana papers, the Dana Family papers, and the Wadsworth-Longfellow Family papers. Formerly Cambridge Historical Society. There is also a replica in Aberdeen, South Dakota on Main St. Longfellow HouseWashington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts, National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts, List of Washington's Headquarters during the Revolutionary War, "National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics", The George Washington Papers: Provenance and Publication History, "Longfellow House-Washington Headquarters National Historic Site", Longfellow National Historic Site Archives, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Longfellow_HouseWashington%27s_Headquarters_National_Historic_Site&oldid=1169236664, This page was last edited on 7 August 2023, at 22:32. After her father's death in 1882, Alice Longfellow commissioned two of America's first female landscape architects, Martha Brookes Hutcheson and Ellen Biddle Shipman, to redesign the formal garden in the Colonial Revival style. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection. Less than a year after he wrote this beautiful, despairing poem, he received a letter from Fanny Appleton in which she hinted at a better dawn. She had changed her mind, he discovered, and would marry him after all. The home was already becoming famous during the poet's lifetime as it was often printed alongside his works, in chromolitographs, and in gift-cards. . Thanks to Guy Raffa for this informative article about the famous "Longfellow House" on Brattle Street during the momentous months of 1775-76.Other officers of the Continental Army occupied Massachusetts Hall in the Harvard Yard as the army assembled and drilled on the nearby Cambridge Common. But the pregnant Mary Storer Potter Longfellow suffered a miscarriage in Amsterdam. 24 Fabulous Things to Do in Cambridge, Massachusetts Henry Wadsworth Longfellow American poet. In order to reduce her expenses, she took in boarders during much of this time. These elements contained a blend of the old and the new. The Longfellow House, Cambridge, Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807-1882, Homes and haunts, Dwellings, United States, Massachusetts, Cambridge, 1900. It was a place that gave structure to their daily lives and was an artistic expression of their values. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1844. Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House | SAH ARCHIPEDIA A majestic mansion designed in Mughalai style, complete with a turquoise onion dome. The collection is rich in material both from the era of the American Revolution and related to its commemoration during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: the house itself is thought to have served as a hospital following the Battle of Bunker Hill and was General George Washingtons headquarters while stationed in Cambridge during the Revolutionary War (July 1775-April 1776). 59 Wadsworth Longfellow House Stock Photos & High-Res Pictures [3], In 1885, Robert "Fish" Jones sold his downtown Minneapolis fish market, and built a zoo on the site where the Basilica of St. Mary stands today. [1], For four years after Jones' death, the house remained vacant, following which the Park Board was deeded the house, offering it to the Minneapolis Public Library. Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. American Revolution Materials: The collections at the Longfellow House related to the American Revolution are spread through a number of different files: many members of the Longfellow-Dana family were amateur historians, and materials from the Revolution-era are sorted mainly by the individual who obtained them. Brattle Street (Cambridge, Massachusetts) - Wikipedia Download the official NPS app before your next visit, Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters. [30] His landlady, Elizabeth Craigie, died in 1841.
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