Maine Memory Network

Wadsworth-Longfellow House, Portland, ca. 1880

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1880 Location: Portland Media: Photographic print

Alice Longfellow, age 9, ca. 1860

Contributed by: NPS, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site Date: circa 1860 Location: Boston; Cambridge Media: Photographic print

45 Longfellow Street, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Heirs of Charles F. Holden Use: Dwelling - Single House

37 Longfellow Street, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Charles Sumner Cook Use: Dwelling - Single family

House for Miss Ruth E.. Locke, Longfellow St., Portland, ca. 1900

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 1900 Location: Portland Client: Ruth E. Locke Architect: Charles O. Poor; Poor & Thomas

Maine Historical Society presentation drawing, Portland, ca. 2015

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: circa 2015 Location: Portland Client: Maine Historical Society Architect: Carol A. Wilson; Carol A. Wilson, Architect

Home: The Longfellow House & the Emergence of Portland

The Wadsworth-Longfellow house is the oldest building on the Portland peninsula, the first historic site in Maine, a National Historic Landmark, home to three generations of Wadsworth and Longfellow family members -- including the boyhood home of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The history of the house and its inhabitants provide a unique view of the growth and changes of Portland -- as well as of the immediate surroundings of the home.

Longfellow: The Man Who Invented America

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a man and a poet of New England conscience. He was influenced by his ancestry and his Portland boyhood home and experience.

NPS, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters Historic Site

View collections, facts, and contact information for this Contributing Partner.

Music in Maine - Longfellow Family Music

"… Longfellow spent his childhood in the Wadsworth-Longfellow House, nurtured by family members who read avidly, drew, painted, played music, and…"

Reverend Thomas Smith of First Parish Portland
by Kristina Minister, Ph.D.

Pastor, Physician, Real Estate Speculator, and Agent for Wabanaki Genocide

Monument Square 1967
by C. Michael Lewis

The background story and research behind a commissioned painting of Monument Square.

Longfellow Studies: "Haunted Houses"

Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12 Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Longfellow's collection The Courtship of Miles Standish and other Poems was published in 1858. It sold 250,000 copies in two months and over 10.000 copies in London on the first day; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was extremely popular during his lifetime. "Haunted Houses" is a work from that collection. It is a poem that is especially appealing around Halloween. The poem welcomes the reader to a place where "The spirit-world around the world of sense floats like an atmosphere . . ."

Longfellow Studies: The Writer's Hour - "Footprints on the Sands of Time"

Grade Level: 3-5 Content Area: English Language Arts, Social Studies
These lessons will introduce the world-famous American writer and a selection of his work with a compelling historical fiction theme. Students take up the quest: Who was HWL and did his poetry leave footprints on the sands of time? They will "tour" his Cambridge home through young eyes, listen, and discuss poems from a writer’s viewpoint, and create their own poems inspired by Longfellow's works. The interdisciplinary approach utilizes critical thinking skills, living history, technology integration, maps, photos, books, and peer collaboration. The mission is to get students keenly interested in what makes a great writer by using Longfellow as a historic role model. The lessons are designed for students at varying reading levels. Slow learners engage in living history with Alice’s fascinating search through the historic Craigie house, while gifted and talented students may dramatize the virtual tour as a monologue. Constant discovery and exciting presentations keep the magic in lessons. Remember that, "the youthful mind must be interested in order to be instructed." Students will build strong writing skills encouraging them to leave their own "footprints on the sands of time."