Day 4: Longfellow's Home {Boston Tour; Part 6}

Salut, mes amis!

My last stop on the guided bus tour of Boston was actually in Cambridge (which was settled in 1630 and incorporated in 1636)! A city inevitably made famous by Harvard University, Cambridge is part of the Greater Boston area and is the fifth most populous city in the state of Massachusetts (which is really evident by August of every year, when students flood in to attend Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Lesley University, etc!). There were 105,162 residents in the city at the time of the 2010 Census! Did you know that a resident of Cambridge is called a Cantabrigian? Isn't that a funny word? 

The bus driver let me off at the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which is a National Historic Site. The house was originally built in 1759 along the Charles River for merchant and Loyalist John Vassall. The Vassalls fled for England in 1774. Shortly after the Vassalls fled for England, General George Washington (along with wife Martha) chose this house as his place of residence when he arrived in Cambridge in July 1775.  It wasn't until 1843 that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, celebrated poet (who wrote Paul Revere's Ride), and his new wife, Fanny Appleton, moved in. 

I did not get to explore much of the Longfellow House, as we didn't have the time to take a guided tour. At this point in the day, I was very thirsty, and I was so grateful that the house had drinking water available! Quenching my thirst and buying one small thing in the gift shop was all I had the time for.

The photo below shows the Longfellow family: Henry with wife Fanny Appleton and sons Charles and Ernest. There were also four daughters in the family: Fanny, Alice Mary, Edith, and Anne Allegra! I guess this photo is proof that sons were much more valued than daughters! I, for one, am glad that notion has changed. 

Thanks for joining me on my guided tour of Boston! Please check back - I still have a few other places to post about! 

~Sophie