Pretty soon after I moved to Boston -- well, I actually spent my first few months in Waltham -- I took the commuter rail one day from the Waltham station to Porter Square and got on the Red Line to Harvard Square. It was my first time in Harvard Square, and I was not familiar with the area. I made my way down Brattle Street, and low and behold, I found myself standing in front of the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
It was not until after I had taken the tour of the house that I realized its history was significant in other ways as well. It was at this house where George Washington assumed command of the Continental Army, and it served as his headquarters during the Siege of Boston from 1775-1776. During Longfellow's residence at the house, notable visitors included Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, Charles Dickens, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Although he is most well known for his poetry and as a scholar, Longfellow was also an abolitionist and published Poems on Slavery in 1842. While working on the Abolitionist Map of America, the Longfellow House / Washington's Headquarters partnered with us to populate the map with historical materials. You can find a lot of their archival images and documents pinned in the Cambridge, Massachusetts area, or by exploring their collections online.
Longfellow's birthplace is located in Portland, Maine, and the house is operated by the Maine Historical Society. I have visited the historical society on two occasions but have yet to take a tour of his house.
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