"There is no position in Cambridge that can compare"

Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, at 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, has played an important role in American history, serving as George Washington's headquarters during the Siege of Boston and home to the famous poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Over the course of the house's occupancy, the property boundaries - well documented in deed records, estate maps, and the site's Cultural Landscape Report - changed dramatically. As the surrounding neighborhood changed over time, from rural to suburban, so did the land use and property size. At its largest, the property was once 140 acres, and it is now 1.98 acres. Records show the property has evolved from a colonial farm estate, to a country house, to the National Historic Site that it is today.

The land on which the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House sits has been occupied for thousands of years. Discoveries of stone points in today’s Longfellow Park and the grounds around the house provide tangible evidence of Native American inhabitants in the Archaic Period (3000-2500 BP/years ago). They were here when the first English colonists established a settlement – then called Newtowne – in the 1630s.

In 1638, one of the first English homes built on the road to Watertown was built for Deacon John Bridge. In 1683, Bridge’s son, Matthew Bridge, sold this property to John Marrett. The Marrett family would expand this property with subsequent acquisitions and continue to live on it until 1747.

In the early 1700s, a wealthy group of people purchased several properties along the road to Watertown. Colonel John Vassall, son of Leonard Vassall, inherited one of his father’s sugar plantations in the West Indies and purchased properties in Cambridge in the 1740s.

John Vassall, Esquire inherited two parcels in Cambridge from his father, Colonel Vassall, and built the Vassall house on the 6.5-acre lot in 1759. This Georgian manison house is the front portion and facade of the house that stands today. By 1774, he owned 97 acres on the King’s Highway (now Brattle Street); this included the house, a wood house, and barn. An estate as large as Vassall’s would have required plenty of labor and maintenance. He enslaved at least seven people in Cambridge, but it is unknown where they lived on the property.

In September 1774, John and Elizabeth Vassall, with their six children, were forced to flee Cambridge because of their loyalist stance, leaving the house and estate abandoned. After his holdings were confiscated in 1778, they were described as "containing 105 Acres of Meadow & Orcharding and a large Dwelling House with very extensive Gardens and Stabling and three other houses."

Some of the people formerly enslaved by John Vassall stayed and built a life for themselves in Cambridge. In 1780,  Tony and Cuba Vassall petitioned the court  to stay on the former Vassall property, requesting "freehold in the Premises and add one quarter of an acre of adjoining land to that which they now improve." This petition for land, which indicates they had continued to cultivate an acre for subsistence farming through the Revolution, was unsuccessful.

In 1775, General Glover and the Marblehead Battalion used the house as their headquarters. On July 2nd, George Washington arrived in Cambridge, and after 13 days he relocated from Harvard College to the house most likely for its large capacity and protected location near the river. It was here that George Washington planned and executed the Siege of Boston, the march to Quebec, the new organization of the Continental Army, and the occupation of Dorchester Heights. On April 4, 1776 Washington vacated the headquarters leaving the land to be confiscated by the General Council in 1778.

In 1781, Nathaniel Tracy, a wealthy privateer with a reputation for collecting loyalist properties, purchased the John Vassall property as well as several Cambridge lots. Tracy expanded the former Vassall estate mostly for agricultural use. The original 6.5 acres that the house was built on was now one 47-acre lot. After living a lavish lifestyle on the estate, Tracy suffered financially and sold his 140-acre property to Thomas Russell, US Branch Bank’s first president, in 1786. At the time that they were owners of the estate, Tracy lived in Newburyport and Russell lived in Boston, each using the Cambridge house as their second home.

In 1792, Thomas Russell sold the meadows, pastures, and house estate to Andrew Craigie for 3759-pound sterling (about $4,668). Andrew Craigie, once Washington’s Apothecary General, director of the first US Bank, real estate speculator, and wholesale drug trader, focused his business on improving the surrounding agricultural and urban land which was essential to development during the Federal era. Craigie also assisted in the urbanization of Lechmere Point, now known as East Cambridge. In 1807, he formed the Canal Bridge Corporation to finance the construction of the Craigie Bridge to compete with the West Boston Bridge. He proposed to selectmen that Mt. Auburn Street travel across his estate, providing a shorter route between Watertown and Lechmere's Point. Eager to increase traffic and tolls on his new bridge, he paid for the construction of the new road over what had been John Vassall’s salt meadow.

Andrew Craigie was also a charter member of the "Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture," which promoted crop rotation and reforestation. In 1805, he donated three acres to Harvard College’s Botanic Gardens. Together, Andrew and Elizabeth Craigie transformed and decorated the property with over 100 native and exotic fruit trees and plants shipped to their home. The Craigies’ improvements to the estate displayed their sophistication and wealth.

In 1819, when Andrew Craigie died, his land in Cambridge consisted of about 135 acres of agricultural land and was, to some degree, still a working farm. After his death, Elizabeth Craigie inherited a third of the Cambridge property, which included the house and meadows; the rest was divided among the Fosters, Andrew Craigie’s nieces and nephews. Mrs. Craigie not only inherited Andrew’s land but also his debt, forcing her to auction items, sell flowers and fruits, and move to the back of the house with two servants to rent out the front rooms. Shortly after Elizabeth Craigie died in 1841, childless, the estate was partitioned among the Foster heirs and the Haven trustees, who further subdivided it for development of a large portion of the former salt meadows.

When the estate was partitioned, Joseph Worcester purchased thirty-two acres west of the house and rented the Craigie house from the Fosters until 1844. Worcester occupied the western half of the house and sublet the eastern portion to Henry W. Longfellow, a professor at Harvard College.

When the estate was partitioned, Joseph Worcester purchased thirty-two acres west of the house and rented the Craigie house from the Fosters until 1844. Worcester occupied the western half of the house and sublet the eastern portion to Henry W. Longfellow, a professor at Harvard College.

Upon Henry Longfellow’s marriage to Fanny Appleton of Boston, the couple persuaded her father, Nathan Appleton, to purchase the land and in 1844, he gave them the seat of the former Craigie estate: the house and 5 acres of land.

"We have duly considered & discussed the question of remaining here, & think that, all things considered we could not do better elsewhere. The house is large enough to introduce every modern comfort we should desire, & there is no position in Cambridge that can compare with it for the views & air. It is, moreover, very interesting to us for its associations, - of which we have lately had very exact information from Mr Sparks. Of course its purchase rests mainly upon your own judgment & inclination but I state ours frankly that you may know them." - Fanny Longfellow to Nathan Appleton, 1843

To preserve the view of the Charles River, they also persuaded him to purchase 4 acres in front of the house, which Henry later bought from Nathan for $4,000. Longfellow admired the size and was aware of the important history associated with the house. He hoped to make only minor changes to the property. Longfellow’s changes to the estate included replacement of the destroyed barn with a carriage house and removal of outbuildings, leaving only the woodshed and carriage house. Other changes included structural repairs and care for damaged elm trees that were distinct components of the historic landscape.

To preserve the view of the Charles River, they also persuaded him to purchase 4 acres in front of the house, which Henry later bought from Nathan for $4,000. Longfellow admired the size and was aware of the important history associated with the house. He hoped to make only minor changes to the property. Longfellow’s changes to the estate included replacement of the destroyed barn with a carriage house and removal of outbuildings, leaving only the woodshed and carriage house. Other changes included structural repairs and care for damaged elm trees that were distinct components of the historic landscape.

The neighborhood began to change character, as smaller lots and houses replaced the orchards, fields, and gardens. This resulted in many unmarked property boundaries, leaving the house on only 5 acres with no clear enclosure east of it. The Longfellows placed screens and hedges around the property. Elm trees and lilacs graced the front of the house, walkways were added through and around the garden area, and the flower garden itself continued to provide seasonal delight for the family. Longfellow, by now a poet of international repute, continued to write about the inspiration of his home and its setting.

In Henry Longfellow’s later years, he continued to purchase land surrounding the estate to create an inheritance for his children and preserve more of the historic land.

After learning of potential construction of slaughter houses on marsh across the river that would threaten the view from the house, Longfellow organized a corporation to purchase the land and had it donated to Harvard College in 1870, as Longfellow Meadows.

Soon after Henry Longfellow’s death in 1882, his family and members of the Longfellow Memorial Association sought to establish a memorial to him in Cambridge. Although the Longfellow children were not members of the Association, they donated two parcels of land between the house and the river in 1883 and 1888 for this purpose. The Memorial Association worked closely with several landscape architects to plan and design the memorial park. The plan was developed and executed by the Boston firm of Walker & Best in 1889.

In 1888, the Longfellow children divided the estate among themselves, but the house, then located on 1.98 acres, remained to all the children. Daughters Anne Thorp and Edith Dana, with their husbands, built new homes to the west along Brattle Street. Alice Longfellow was given two parcels and allowed to live in the house.

Alice Longfellow hired landscape architects Martha Hutcheson (1905) and Ellen Biddle Shipman (1925) to add colonial flair to the grounds, with a Colonial Revival garden that complemented the house’s Georgian architecture. While Alice was away travelling, the house’s garden was open to visitors.

In 1913, the surviving heirs created an Indenture of Trust to preserve the house and its parcel: “for the benefit of the public as a specimen of the best Colonial Architecture of the middle of the eighteenth century, as an historical monument of the occupation of the house by General Washington during the siege of Boston in the Revolutionary War and as a memorial to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.”

The Trust sought to give the property to the National Park Service in 1952 because it was struggling financially. A field investigation concluded the property was of national significance, and on December 29, 1962 it was designated a National Historic Landmark. While waiting for the house to be transferred to the National Park Service, the Longfellow House Trust employed Frank Buda to take care of the property. The Cambridge Plant and Garden Club supported grounds care and planned to restore the grounds and garden to their condition during the poet’s residency. 

In 1972, Congress authorized the transfer of 1.98 acres to the National Park Service guaranteeing preservation of the property, “To foster public awareness and understanding of the site and its environs with particular emphasis on Longfellow's life and work as they are reflected in the house and grounds.” Under National Park Service stewardship, changes to the landscape included restoration of the garden to its 1920s appearance, improving public access by repurposing the woodshed as a visitors’ center, and construction of new ramps and paths to accommodate universal access.

Today, the park staff works to preserve the history within the house and the cultural landscape for more than 60,000 visitors from around the world to enjoy.  Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site  grounds are open daily from dawn to dusk. The site hosts special community events throughout the year to introduce even more visitors to the grounds and history of the Longfellow house.