This is the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow house. Longfellow possibly has better quotes than above, but this one was very appropriate. We have walked past here countless times in the past but today we stopped because the rain was pouring down! We haven't stopped before because we are cheap, but today I figured we could use our National Park Senior Pass. It so happens the hour tour is free for everyone so no pass needed.
This house was built in 1759 for John Vassall, a sugar plantation owner and future loyalist. In 1774 the Vassalls and their neighbors fled the insurgency preceding the American Revolutionary War.
In 1775 Gen. George Washington chose this house as his headquarters while commanding the Continental Army. In 1791 Andrew Cragie, the Continental Army's first apothecary general, bought the house. He married Elizabeth Shaw in 1793. While Cragie intended to increase it's grandeur and size bad investments and lavish living put him in debt leaving his widow to take in boarders.
In 1837 Longfellow, a Harvard professor and up-and-coming poet, became one of those boarders. In 1843 he married Fanny Appleton whose father presented the house to them as a wedding gift. They had 6 children here. In 1913 their children established the Longfellow House Trust and in 1973 donated it to the National Park Service.
There are so many things for kids to do in the Boston area. We took one day and went to the Discovery Museum. It appeared to be geared for younger kids but there were a few things they enjoyed.
 |
| The da Vinci lever. Which rope will allow them to lift Grandpa? |
 |
| Success! |
 |
| Explore the power of air with pneumatic tubes and blowers. |
 |
| Hedge maze |
 |
| Since I can get lost going around the block I stuck with Josh and we were the only two that made it to the middle. I told them no one else needed to go because I found the $100 bill. 😉 |
Where are the Piepers now? Cambridge, MA
No comments:
Post a Comment