Stop by and see us at 105 Brattle St TODAY as we participate in the Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site event: Headquarters of a Revolution: The 250th Anniversary of Washington’s Arrival in Cambridge. We’ll have a table focused on the myth of the Washington Elm, including a few Revolutionary-era artifacts on display! Full event details below.
Saturday, July 5, 2025, 10:00am-3:00pm Commemorate the 250th anniversary of General George Washington’s arrival in Cambridge to assume command of the Continental Army in 1775. Cambridge Headquarters was a testing ground for many of the ideals, institutions, and questions that still define our country. This event will reveal Cambridge Headquarters as a complex hub of revolutionary activity, where generals, enslaved people, paid laborers, poets, Indigenous diplomats, politicians, self-emancipated families, and soldiers shaped history. Event schedule and learn more.
This all-ages event invites visitors to experience Revolutionary-era history brought to life through:
Neighborhood and house tours Living history interpreters Short talks by historians Cambridge Open Archives Historical exhibits and family-friendly activities, including a Story Walk This event is made possible through the generous support of Eastern National, a nonprofit partner of the National Park Service.
Date/Location: Sunday June 16, 2024, Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters NHS, 105 Brattle Street (Rain location: Christ Church Cambridge, 0 Garden St)
Gather for Juneteenth to honor those who endured slavery and seized freedom on Brattle Street on the eve of the American Revolution, their living descendants, and the long history of Black freedom activism in Cambridge and beyond. This free, all-ages event will feature a community gathering with speeches by living descendants, Juneteenth # Pop-Up Poetry, A Denise Plays Hard Event; music, historical displays, family activities, and refreshments.
Event Details 🎤 12:30-12:50 PM Welcome speakers 🎶 12:50-2:00 PM Juneteenth # Pop-Up Poetry, A Denise Plays Hard Event, including: Drum procession with Chibuzo Dunun Libation + Lift Every Voice and Sing Music + poetry, Denise Washington & Akili Jamal Haynes 🧺 2:00-3:00 PM Interactive history and family activities Catered refreshments Partner/resource tables Juneteenth StoryWalk
View of lower garden and memorial with Longfellow’s house in the background
Across the street from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s House on Brattle Street is a 2-acre park extending down to the Charles River, established in memory of the great poet. The park includes an open lawn area off of Brattle Street bounded by several residences as well as the Friends Meeting House of Cambridge and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and descends to a lower garden and memorial on Mt. Auburn Street.
Soon after Longfellow’s passing in 1882, a group of his colleagues organized an association to create a memorial in his honor and formed the Longfellow Memorial Association. The Association sought to erect a monument and create a public park to be given to the City of Cambridge. Longfellow’s children donated two acres, consisting of the central portion of a meadow, in 1883. This donation of land came with a plan illustrating their desire for an open grass area to preserve the view of the river from the house, and a monument located in the northern section of the park. A horseshoe-shaped road was proposed to provide access to subdivided lots planned by the Longfellows.
Proposed plan by Longfellow’s heirs with the monument located on the upper green space.
Maintaining the open meadow was a concern by all involved in the park. As Longfellow’s son, Ernest, wrote:
“Such a breathing space on the river in connection with the playing fields of the College, which my father was so instrumental in securing, will one day be a great boon to Cambridge when it becomes crowded, and would be a better monument to my father and more in harmony than any graven image that could be erected.”
Plan by Charles Eliot, 1887 (National Park Service)
In 1887, Charles Eliot, a landscape architect who apprenticed with Frederick Law Olmsted, was commissioned to design the park. He envisioned a park with two distinct areas, an expanse of lawn surrounded by the horseshoe-shaped road and walks, and a garden in the lowland with paths and a playground. To mitigate poor drainage, Eliot recommended the upland be used to fill the area and create a brook. He also included shrubs to screen traffic on Mt. Auburn Street, and trees along the edges of the garden. Between the garden and the green, Eliot proposed an exedra, a semi-circular recessed seating area, facing south and on axis with the front door of Longfellow’s house. A proposed walk would lead to the highest point on the site, ending in a terrace and a set of stairs. Only a few elements of Eliot’s design were actually executed. Changes included a large stone stair case instead of the exedra, and fewer shrubs were installed. In addition, trees were not planted on the edges, and the brook was not created.
View from Longfellow’s house to the river, ca. 1889 (Ellis Gray Loring Papers, Harvard University)
The design of the monument was given to the sculptor Daniel French. The siting of the statue was debated between the heirs who wanted it closer to Brattle Street, and the Association who agreed with Eliot’s original recommendation. The dispute was settled by Frederick Olmsted, Jr. who concurred with Eliot’s idea. Olmsted Jr. also recommended that the design of the monument integrate and redesign the existing steps. The staircase was replaced by a stone retaining wall, designed by the architect Henry Bacon, which forms the base of the sculpture. Two sets of stairs flank the wall, and at the base of the sculpture was a sunken memorial garden designed by Paul Frost.
View of stone steps connecting the upper and lower levels of the park, ca. 1910 (Library of Congress)
View of lower level of the park looking back to Longfellow’s house, ca. 1915 (Boston Public Library, Leon Abdalian photo)
View of portrait bust of Longfellow with 6 characters from his poems depicted in bas-relief behind the sculpture
After 1914, pathways were repaved in concrete and narrowed. Houses and institutions were built around the park. In the 1930s and 1940s, several WPA projects repaired the drive and walkways, and planted shrubs and trees in the garden. Lighting was also installed during this time. By the 1970s, a mature canopy of trees had grown in the garden. In 1989, Carol R. Johnson and Associates was hired to address the deterioration of the lower park. Some trees were removed and re-planted, and others were pruned. The lawn was restored, and the area was regraded for erosion control. Granite cobbles were installed at the south gate, and stone dust paving was placed at the base of the monument.
Sources
Evans, Catherine, Cultural Landscape Report for Longfellow National Historic Site, Volume I: Site History and Existing Conditions, National Park Service, 1993.
Osterby-Benson, Krisan, “Longfellow Park, A Room With A View,” May, 1983.
Maycock, Susan, and Charles Sullivan, Building Old Cambridge, MIT Press, 2016.
Don’t miss this year’s Cambridge Discovery Day — tomorrow, Saturday, September 16!
Discover Cambridge during a day of free tours and events celebrating the city’s history. Enjoy special tours by the Rangers at Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site and the Fresh Pond Reservation, experience the Revolution from a child’s perspective, and discover the secret history of Cambridge saloons and speakeasies. Explore James Russell Lowell’s Brattle Street, be inspired by stained glass windows at Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, and delight in the architectural gems of Avon Hill.
This post is well overdue, but before the summer officially winds down (!), we wanted to share some photographs from this year’s Cambridge Open Archives event, which took place June 19-22.
This year, seven archives, special collections, and collecting institutions in Cambridge opened their doors to the public to showcase some of their most interesting materials. The theme this year was “Living and Dying in Cambridge.”
Check out a brief slideshow below of some highlights from this year’s archives tours. Photos courtesy of attendees and archivists.
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A huge thanks to this year’s participants and their fabulous archivists, curators, librarians and staff:
Mount Auburn Cemetery, The Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University, the Harvard Semitic Museum, Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters, The Cambridge Historical Society, the Cambridge Room at the Cambridge Public Library, and the Harvard Art Museums Archives.
Next year marks the 10th anniversary of Cambridge Open Archives, so stay tuned for updates on what we’ll be planning!
Join us for the 9th Annual Cambridge Open Archives, June 19-22, 2017!
This event is FREE but registration is required. Sign up here.
What is Open Archives? For four days, seven Cambridge repositories and special collections will open their doors to the public to showcase some of their most interesting materials — and the tales that go along with them. This year, our participants will present collections materials that fit with the theme of “living and dying in Cambridge.”
Our participants this year: Mount Auburn Cemetery, The Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University, the Harvard Semitic Museum, Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters, The Cambridge Historical Society, The Cambridge Room (Cambridge Public Library), and the Harvard Art Museums Archives.
