Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters

The Longfellow House on Brattle Street is a large yellow Georgian mansion that served first as George Washington's headquarters during the Revolutionary War and later as the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow from 1837 until his death in 1882. The National Park Service administers it as a museum; guided tours walk you through rooms that look remarkably unchanged, still containing Longfellow's furniture, library, and personal effects.

The house sits in what was called Tory Row — Brattle Street was lined with mansions belonging to wealthy Loyalist families who fled to England at the outbreak of the Revolution. The Washington connection gives it an unusual double significance: the commander who led the new republic and the poet who helped forge its mythology both lived and worked on the same porch. Open seasonally; check NPS website for tour times.

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A story
George Washington used this house as his headquarters during the Siege of Boston in 1775–76, directing the campaign that eventually forced the British to evacuate. Longfellow moved in decades later and lived here for 45 years, writing most of his major works including Evangeline, The Song of Hiawatha, and Paul Revere's Ride. The house is one of the few in America with two such distinct historical identities.