Longfellow House

Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site is a Cambridge house museum run by the National Park Service. The house was first built for John Vassall, Jr., a sugar plantation owner and enslaver, and then served as General George Washington’s headquarters during the siege of Boston. More than 60 years later it became the home of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who raised his family and wrote his most famous poems there.

Washington spent a pivotal nine months in the house in 1775 and 1776, shaping the new Continental Army with his council of war and staff, and Martha Washington joined him that winter. Three generations of the Longfellow family lived there from 1837 to 1950. The site also tells the stories of people enslaved in the house, including Cuba Vassall and Darby Vassall, who seized his freedom during the Revolution.

What to Know

• The house served as a residence for 191 years.
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made Cambridge his home for more than 45 years.
• The site’s stories also cover Fanny Longfellow and Samuel Longfellow, the poet’s wife and youngest brother.
• The site is a member of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce.