Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Cambridge, MA, Ghid vizitatori și ce de văzut în apropiere

Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site is a Georgian mansion at 105 Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. George Washington lived and worked here as commander of the Continental Army early in the Revolutionary War, and a century later it became the home of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Few houses in America hold two such different chapters of the national story under one roof.

The story behind it

The house was built in the 1750s for a wealthy Loyalist family on what was then known as Tory Row, a line of grand estates along Brattle Street. When the Siege of Boston began in 1775, those families had left, and the house became Washington's headquarters. He used it while he shaped a gathering of New England militias into a organized army, and his wife Martha joined him here over the winter.

Decades later, the young poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow rented rooms in the house, and after his marriage it became his family home for the rest of his life. He wrote and raised his children here, and he became one of the most widely read American poets of the nineteenth century, known for works such as Paul Revere's Ride and The Song of Hiawatha. Today the National Park Service looks after the house and its grounds.

What to look for

• The pale yellow, symmetrical front of the house shows the Georgian style of the colonial period, with evenly spaced windows and a formal central entrance.
• The garden beside and behind the house is a quiet corner that the Longfellow family cared for, and it is worth a slow look even if you do not go inside.
• The neighboring houses along Brattle Street give a sense of how this stretch of Cambridge looked when wealthy families built their estates here.
• Any signs or plaques near the entrance mark the house's two famous residents, so look for them before you move on.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 30 to 45 minutes to see the exterior and grounds, and more if you join a tour of the interior.
• Check current opening hours and tour arrangements with the National Park Service before you go, as access to the house can change through the year.
• Morning or late afternoon light is kind to the facade and makes for easier photos with fewer crowds on the street.
• The house is a short walk west of Harvard Square, so it combines easily with Cambridge Common and the other historic sites in the area.

See it on a quest

Unlock the Secrets of Harvard Square, A Magical Puzzle Hunt is a good way to take in this house as part of a wider walk around Harvard Square. You reach the house on foot as one stop on a longer route through the area, the app tells you about the place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle based on what is in front of you. You can start whenever you like, with no guide and no group to join. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group.