Wadsworth-Longfellow House
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| Wadsworth-Longfellow House | |
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| (U.S. National Historic Landmark) | |
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| Location: | 487 Congress St Portland, Maine |
| Architect: | Peleg Wadsworth |
| Designated as NHL: | December 29, 1962 |
| Added to NRHP: | October 15, 1966 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 66000090 |
The Wadsworth-Longfellow House is a historic house now open as a museum. It is located at 489 Congress Street in Portland, Maine, United States, and is operated by the Maine Historical Society. The house is open daily to public from May through October (half days on Sundays). An admission fee is charged.
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[edit] History
The house has both historical and literary importance, as it is both the oldest standing structure on the Portland peninsula and the childhood home of famous American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Revolutionary War General Peleg Wadsworth built the house in 1785-1786, the first wholly brick dwelling in Portland.[1] Wadsworth raised ten children in the two-story structure with a pitched roof before retiring to the family farm in Hiram, Maine, in 1807. His daughter Zilpah and her husband Stephen Longfellow IV were married in the house.
Their son, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was born nearby at the home of an aunt in 1807. He did not move with his parents to this house until he was eight months old, but spent the next 35 years there.[2] The Longfellows added today's third story in 1815.
Anne Longfellow Pierce (1810-1901) was the last family member to live in the house. She deliberately kept the house much as it was in Peleg Wadsworth's time, but is perhaps best remembered for growing oranges in the window (no small feat in a Maine winter)[3]. Her will stipulated that the house, lot, and many furnishings be given to the Maine Historical Society upon her death.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- The Wadsworth-Longfellow House: Longfellow's Old Home. By Nathan Goold. Published 1908. Full image at books.google.
- ^ Haas, Irvin. Historic Homes of American Authors. Washington, DC: The Preservation Press, 1991. ISBN 0891331808. p. 69
- ^ Haas, Irvin. Historic Homes of American Authors. Washington, DC: The Preservation Press, 1991. ISBN 0891331808. p. 70
- ^ Portland Historical Society
[edit] External links
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