Beginning in 1759, the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow-House was continuously occupied for almost 200 years. The last Longfellow family member to occupy the House full-time passed away in 1950.
From pre-Revolutionary War times through the mid-twentieth century, the House had been witness to innumerable gatherings of politicians, poets, artists, writers and many others from the United States and around the world.
The famous and infamous, families and friends, slaves and servants have called this House their home over time. The threads of history that have run through this site are quite extraordinary. The various social and political movements and the intellectual history connected with the House have had an incalculable influence on the development of American culture and identity as we know it today.
The house is most renown for two particular reasons. Firstly, it served as George Washington's first headquarters after assuming command of the Continental Army. Many years later the house became the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the most famous poets in America's history.
Selected National Park Service, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site images:
- Judge Barrett Potter house, Portland, ca. 1940
- Kitchen in the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House
- Laundry room in the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House
- Frances Appleton Longfellow by Rowse, 1859
- Longfellow's Three Daughters
- The Chestnut Chair
- Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1840
- Frances Elizabeth Appleton Longfellow
- Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow