Wadsworth-Longfellow House – Portland Maine
Here is a photo from one of our visits to Portland, Maine, standing in front of the Longfellow House. Sitting right on Congress Street, in the middle of downtown life. is this Wadsworth-Longfellow House, the oldest surviving structure on the Portland peninsula. It was built in 1785-1786 by General Peleg Wadsworth, a Revolutionary War hero and grandfather of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of America’s most beloved poets. Longfellow was born here in 1807 and spent his childhood within these walls.
Originally constructed as a two-story brick home, the house gained its distinctive third floor after a chimney fire in 1815 required rebuilding. The home remained in the Longfellow family for more than a century which ensured many of the original furnishings and personal objects survived intact.
The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962, recognizing not only its architectural importance but also its role in shaping one of the country’s most influential literary figures. Today, the house is owned and operated by the Maine Historical Society
Read More From Nancy
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., remains one of the towering figures in American legal history, whose ideas continue to shape constitutional law and the way we think about freedom and the role of courts. His life spanned history from the Civil War through the Great Depression with nearly 30 years on the U.S. Supreme Court. Holmes […]
Dorothy Quincy Homestead
Visiting the Dorothy Quincy Homestead in Quincy, Massachusetts was another chance to step back into the life of one of colonial America’s most prominent families. This landmark dates back to 1686, when it was built by Edmund Quincy on land settled by the family in the 1630s. The homestead was the childhood home of Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott, […]
Remembering Rebecca Nurse: A Visit to Salem Village’s Enduring Witness
I am grateful that so many historic houses are still open to the public to explore and to remind us of the lives lived within them. One such home is that of Rebecca Nurse, a respected, elderly woman of Salem Village who became one of the most tragic figures of the Salem Witch Trials in […]
