The oldest building in Harvard University Cambridge Boston.
Cambridge. Although it began life as a separate community Cambridge is part of the metro area of Boston these days. We will have a walk through Harvard Yard, the famous quadrangle of the prestigious university, dating from 1636. We will also see the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the other prestigious university in Cambridge. A third institution is Radcliffe College for Women which adjoins Harvard Yard as in the early days women were not admitted to Harvard. Then we have a tour of nearby Longfellow House, a National Historic Monument. You will remember perhaps from your school days that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, amongst many other works and poems, wrote an epic poem called ‘Hiawatha’. Hiawatha was the one who united the Five Nations of Indians into the Iroquois Nation in New York State. But he was also a mythical figure, a spiritual leader and prophet. Longfellow’s poem of 1855 was the first to use Indian mythology and stories and he also attempted to use some Indian words or derivations of them. Many of the sites mentioned in the poem are located near Minneapolis in the Mid West and have nothing to do with New York State. The poem was very much in the romantic tradition and a few lines were often incorporated into many school texts, even in Australia. Hiawatha’s lover was Minnehaha.
Longfellow House is a good example of an American style wooden house built in 1759 for a British loyalist, John Vassall. When the Revolution and War looked imminent in 1774 he fled. Then General George Washington used the house as his headquarters for the Continental Army in 1775-76 during the siege of Boston. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow started boarding in the house around 1820 and became its owner in 1843. He lived here until his death in 1882. In 1913 Longfellow’s children vacated the house and set up a trust to manage it as a memorial to Washington and to Longfellow. It is now owned by the US government, is fully furnished and the garden has been restored much as Longfellow designed it. It provides a window into domestic life in the mid 19th century in Cambridge. The house contains over 10,000 books that belonged to Longfellow and the dining room table around which many important visitors met. In December 2010 it was renamed the Washington - Longfellow National Historic Site to give more prominence to Washington.
The oldest building in Harvard University Cambridge Boston.
Cambridge. Although it began life as a separate community Cambridge is part of the metro area of Boston these days. We will have a walk through Harvard Yard, the famous quadrangle of the prestigious university, dating from 1636. We will also see the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the other prestigious university in Cambridge. A third institution is Radcliffe College for Women which adjoins Harvard Yard as in the early days women were not admitted to Harvard. Then we have a tour of nearby Longfellow House, a National Historic Monument. You will remember perhaps from your school days that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, amongst many other works and poems, wrote an epic poem called ‘Hiawatha’. Hiawatha was the one who united the Five Nations of Indians into the Iroquois Nation in New York State. But he was also a mythical figure, a spiritual leader and prophet. Longfellow’s poem of 1855 was the first to use Indian mythology and stories and he also attempted to use some Indian words or derivations of them. Many of the sites mentioned in the poem are located near Minneapolis in the Mid West and have nothing to do with New York State. The poem was very much in the romantic tradition and a few lines were often incorporated into many school texts, even in Australia. Hiawatha’s lover was Minnehaha.
Longfellow House is a good example of an American style wooden house built in 1759 for a British loyalist, John Vassall. When the Revolution and War looked imminent in 1774 he fled. Then General George Washington used the house as his headquarters for the Continental Army in 1775-76 during the siege of Boston. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow started boarding in the house around 1820 and became its owner in 1843. He lived here until his death in 1882. In 1913 Longfellow’s children vacated the house and set up a trust to manage it as a memorial to Washington and to Longfellow. It is now owned by the US government, is fully furnished and the garden has been restored much as Longfellow designed it. It provides a window into domestic life in the mid 19th century in Cambridge. The house contains over 10,000 books that belonged to Longfellow and the dining room table around which many important visitors met. In December 2010 it was renamed the Washington - Longfellow National Historic Site to give more prominence to Washington.