During her lifetime, Anne Longfellow Pierce had entertained those who visited her brother's childhood home.
She saved the family's furniture and keepsakes and made few changes or modern updates to the home over the years.
The Wadsworth-Longfellow House became Maine's first historic house museum, and, following Pierce's will, the Maine Historical Society built its permanent home and library on the former site of the family's barn, just behind the house, further insuring the lasting memory of America's poet.