Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site

Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site is a unit of the U.S. National Park System in Cambridge that preserves a house with several chapters of American history. Built for sugar plantation owner and enslaver John Vassall Jr., it served as General George Washington’s headquarters during the Siege of Boston, and more than 60 years later became home to poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Visitors explore a fully furnished historic house museum on ranger-led tours.

The house spent 191 years as a residence, and the site tells the stories of many people who lived and worked there. Washington spent nine pivotal months in 1775 and 1776 shaping the new Continental Army, and Martha Washington joined him that winter. Three generations of Longfellows lived in the house from 1837 to 1950. The site also shares the stories of Cuba Vassall and Darby Vassall, who navigated slavery and freedom, along with the household’s domestic workers.

What to Know

• Ranger-led tours are free, and family programming is offered seasonally.
• A summer arts festival, a fall lecture series and holiday programs round out the yearly calendar.
• Longfellow raised his family and wrote his most famous poems in the house, living in Cambridge for more than 45 years.
• The property is historically known as the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House.