July 2024

The 2024 Longfellow Summer Arts Festival

SUNDAYS AT 3PM, JUNE-AUGUST • FREE AND OPEN TO ALL

Juneteenth Celebration on Sunday, June 16, 2024

2024 Longfellow Student Poetry Awards’ Winners

Sunday, June 2, 2024

All Summer Events

We Support The National Park Service

Evacuation Day Lecture:

The Stories of the Washington Elm

Past Event: Thursday, March 14 | 6:00-7:00 PM

J. L. Bell

In-person event at 105 Brattle Street –

Cambridge Common has multiple monuments to the “Washington Elm,” a tree held up (eventually by steel rods) as a symbol of American patriotism. Henry W. Longfellow is said to have composed the text on one of those markers: “Under this tree WASHINGTON first took command of the American Army, July 3, 1775.” After the elm finally collapsed in 1923, more skeptical researchers concluded that its fame was based on little more than legend. In this talk, historian and author J. L. Bell digs into how the Washington Elm came to be celebrated, what its story says about the national memory of the Revolution, and why we really should remember this tree.

J.L. Bell presents the Washington Elm.

Washington Elm Artifacts

“The big cylinder (painted black) was loaned by a neighbor. She told me it came with her house, so she sees it as belonging to the house. It has a copper label identifying it as part of the tree distributed by the city in 1924, the year after the tree fell.

The small ring was just sent to the Longfellow–Washington site by History Cambridge.” – J.L. Bell

Photo by John Bell

News

The Friends are here for this hallowed ground, so that in future generations new meanings will emerge, old truths become more evident, and fascinating moments of history reveal themselves.

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Projects

This summer, with the generous help of the Americana Corner Foundation, the Friends and the National Park Service completed another stage in our project of conserving the furnishings in Henry W. Longfellow’s study.

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Events

All events at the house are free to the public. See all of the upcoming events and find schedule information for house tours at the Longfellow House–Washington’s HQ National Historic Site.

NPS Events