LONGFELLOW HOUSE

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is one of America’s best loved poets. His house, located on Brattle Street, is a classic example colonial architecture and is steeped in history. Prior to his dwelling here, it was used as the base for Washington during the American Revolution. Stepping through the front door of Longfellow House is like stepping back through the ages of poetry, music and literature. Many famous characters have graced the building over the centuries including Dickens, N Hawthorne, R Emerson and H Thoreau.

Longfellow House was declared a National Historic Site back in 1972 under management of the National Park Service. It was built in 1759 on an estate that extended down to the river. After the war, the house was used to tend the injured. The owner died bankrupt and so his widow sold off 137 of the original 140 acres of land that came with the house. To keep herself and the house afloat, she took in lodgers. One of these was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who had been appointed Professor of Modern Languages at Harvard University. At the time, Henry had been courting Frances “Fanny” Appleton, the daughter of a wealthy mill owning man. The couple later married and were bought the house for $10,000 as a wedding present by the brides father.

Henry and Fanny were very much patriots. They kept various artefacts of George Washington throughout their home, including a copy of a Houdan bust of him in the front hall. They also called on the services of an artist known as Gilbert Stuart to carry out various works for them, including a portrait of Fannys parents.

The happily married couple raised six children at Longfellow House although sadly one died at a young age. After 18 blissful married years, tragedy struck. Fanny died after suffering horrific burns due to a tragic accident. Henry, in an attempt to save her, also suffered severe burns and as a result, was unable to attend her funeral. Henry was to morn her loss for the rest of his days and never to remarry.

Most of Henry W Longfellow’s works of poetry were written in the study of Longfellow House including “Cross of Snow” which mourns the loss of his beloved wife.The National Park Service has all the journals in their archive of Longfellow documents.

Longfellow’s love for music as well as poetry was well known and as a result every Sunday afternoon in the summer months, festivals take place on the lawns of his home. This shows the magnitude of the affect that one of Americas best known and loved poets has had on its people.

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