Longfellow's Wayside Inn

Longfellow's Wayside Inn 2010

http://www.wayside.org/

One Autumn night, in Sudbury town,


Across the meadows bare and brown,


The windows of the wayside inn


Gleamed red with fire-light through the leaves


Of woodbine, hanging from the eaves


Their crimson curtains rent and thin.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow from Takes of a Wayside Inn

(http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=2013)

Best known for its connection to the famous Longfellow Poem Paul Revere’s Ride this old tavern sits along the Boston Post Road on 125 acres of grassy woodlands in Sudbury Township. Along with the Inn the property encompasses a gristmill, an old school house, and the Martha-Mary Chapel.  All four buildings are free of admission and tours are self guided. The Inn host’s three museum display rooms featuring colonial rural life and artifacts pertaining to the How family who ran this Inn for 145 years. While there are no interpreters at the Inn the School House and Grist Mill both have trained staff members to help explain the culture of 19^th century farm life. The Inn is still a functional hotel with a full service dining room open for lunch and dinner. The Inn is open for lunch Monday through Saturday from 11:30am, with the last seating at 2:30pm; for dinner Monday through Saturday starting at 5pm; and Sunday dinner is served all day from 12 noon, with the last seating at 7:30pm. Recommended viewing of the historic rooms is at 11am and from 2-5pm.The Grist Mill is open to the public from April to November, Wednesday through Sunday 9am to 5pm. The stones are run Saturdays and Sundays at 1pm and 4pm. The Redstone schoolhouse is open mid May through mid October, Thursday through Sunday from 11:30AM to 5PM. To get to the Inn from Boston take the Mass Pike (Rt 90) west to Rt 128 N. Take exit 26, Rt 20 W for 11 miles. Turn right on Wayside Inn Road and the Inn is 1/8 of a mile down on the right.

David Howe, along the Old Boston Post Road, founded the Inn in 1716. It was originally named Howe's Tavern, when David decided to expand his private home and change it into an Inn for people passing by coach along the busy mail road. Four generations of Howes operated the Inn, including Ezekiel Howe, who led the Sudbury Minutemen to Concord on April 19, 1775. Each generation expanded the Inn’s until the death of Lyman Howe in 1861when the Inn was inherited by relatives who ceased formal operations. In 1862 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited the Howe Tavern and was inspired to compile some of his poetry into a compellation of tales based at the Inn. Longfellow’s fictitious characters regularly gathered at the old Sudbury tavern to tell each other tales along the same lines at Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The poems were published in 1863 as The Tales of a Wayside Inn, whose first poem “The Landlord’s Tale” is better known today as Longfellow’s most famous poem entitled “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." (http://poetry.eserver.org/paul-revere.html; http://www.wayside.org/history/literary) Capitalizing on the Longfellow connection, Edward Rivers Lemon purchased the Inn in 1892, renamed it “Longfellow’s Wayside Inn,” and operated it as “a retreat for literary pilgrims.” The Inn stayed in the lemon family until 1923 when Henry Ford purchased it. Ford expanded the land, intending to create a museum of Americana. He added a one-room Redstone Schoolhouse in 1925, a fully functioning Grist Mill in 1929, and the Martha-Mary Chapel in 1940. Ford ran the Wayside Inn School for Boys on the property as a training ground to prepare the boys for employment in his factories from 1928–1947. (http://www.wayside.org/history/ford) In 1944, Henry Ford created a non-profit trust to preserve the Inn’s historic legacy. After Ford’s death a Board of Trustees governed the Inn until 1957 when the property was turned over to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It has been a fully functional Inn and dining facility ever since. (For Information on Henry Ford: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford)

Repro Bar Room at the Wayside Inn 2010

The Wayside Inn is a different experience than the previously reviewed historic houses since it is a self-guided site. I decided to make a reservation for lunch to get the whole experience. While the ambiance is cute and quaint the food is subpar, the service is slow, and the staff is rude. Unless you are over 60 years of age I do not recommend eating at this place, especially around lunchtime, unless an elderly person accompanies you. My group was the youngest table in the entire Inn for lunch on a Friday and we got shoved into a corner and mostly ignored, what should have been an hour meal maximum turned into a two hour affair and the resulting food was NOT worth it. After lunch I explored the historic rooms. I was a bit disappointed to see that besides interpretation of the artifacts (aka identifying what the object is and giving its provenance) there was very little information about the history of the family that owned the Inn for so long. One room was dedicated to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his book of poetry that was inspired by the Wayside Inn for its setting. While it is wonderful that Longfellow was able to preserve a memory of the Wayside he did not stay at the Inn, nor were they convincing in making a case for his love of the old building. Most of the interpretive bulletins in the rooms where excerpts from Longfellow’s poems and they provided very little historical context. If you are looking for a site that is going to teach you about literary history, I do not recommend visiting the Inn. Although it is very cute so if you are passing by Sudbury I would recommend stopping and just walking around the grounds.

Martha-Mary Chapel At the Wayside Inn 2010

Old Gristmill at the Wayside Inn 2010

The one building I would call a “can’t miss” would be the Old gristmill. It is only half a mile down the road from the Wayside Inn and although it is a historical reproduction, seeing how flour was made in the 19^th century was an interesting experience. I was able to talk to the mill worker and he explained the process of grinding the wheat and showed me the flour he was producing right at the moment we were talking. They sell the flour and cornmeal that are produced during demonstrations ($5 for a 2 lb bag). In the basement there are interpretive panels that describe the ways water and electrical power are used to keep the mill working. It is free and you can invest as little or as much time as desired at this subsidiary site at no added admission cost. If you were in the area I would say your trip to Wayside is not complete without having stopped at the mill.

Since this site is very low key in terms of its historical interpretation I think that some different uses of media could really help advance the educational potential of the site. An introductory video, potentially done in historic dress, would be very useful in one of the Wayside show rooms to introduce the history of the Inn and the How family who ran it for ten generations. If a video is not within the budget just adding some simple sound effects (like bar noises or people coming and going) with How family quote would be a nice addition to add some dimension to the simple room displays. Even in the Henry Longfellow Room having an audio track of “Longfellow” reading parts of his poems would make the interpretation a bit more exciting, as well as better accessible for the visually handicapped.

Nina Simon’s blog Web 2.0 has a blog that discusses the pros and cons of museum interpretation based on the subject area: http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-different-types-of-museums-approach.html. Although this does not specifically reference the Wayside Inn I can see them struggling with similar issues.

The House of Seven Gables

The House of Seven Gables 2010

http://www.7gables.org/

When most people go to visit Salem Massachusetts they are attracted to the stories of witches. No one ever really thinks about the great literary minds of the 19^th century, and yet this sleepy little town with a rather mottled past was the birthplace to Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of the novel The Scarlet Letter. (Overview of the novel: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/scarlet/summary.html) Hawthorne’s most popular novel is often studied in schools today and was recently remade into a new teen comedy entitled “Easy A” (here is a link to the trailer, compare the stories for yourself) yet when studying his works in school very few people are aware of the personality of the man who wrote the book. When I went to Salem and heard that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s birthplace was in the area I was excited to go and learn about this reclusive author.

The House of Seven Gables is located on Derby Street and is within walking distance from the town’s information center. If visitors are traveling into Salem for a day trip they can reach the town by car (Follow US Rt. 1 North or Rt. 95 North to Rt. 128 North. When the roads divide, stay on Route 128-North. Take exit 25A (Rt. 114 East). Follow Rt. 114 East into Salem. After Rt. 114 turns left onto Norman Street, continue straight ahead through the stoplight at the wide intersection onto New Derby Street. New Derby Street becomes Derby Street. The House of the Seven Gables is on the right. Complimentary parking is available during your tour: http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=map+of+salem+ma&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Salem,+MA&gl=us&ei=q9HYTOy4M8H_lgfM4YnpCA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQ8gEwAA) or via the commuter rails (train service is available on the Newburyport / Rockport Commuter Rail Line from Boston's North Station. It is a 15-minute walk to The House of the Seven Gables). The house is open year round from 10am to 5pm with tours continuously running. Admission is $12.50 for adults, $11.50 for seniors, and $7.50 for children between the ages of 5-12. Admission ticket includes a guided tour of the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion (The House of the Seven Gables), a visit to the Nathaniel Hawthorne House, the Counting House, the Colonial Revival Gardens, and the waterfront.

Map of Downtown Salem

Let me tell you right now, the House of Seven Gables, although the setting for one of his novels is NOT the birthplace of Hawthorne. While the admission ticket does include access to his actual birthplace, the advertising can be misleading. The house was originally built “by a Salem sea captain and merchant named John Turner in 1668 and occupied by three generations of the Turner family before being sold to Captain Samuel Ingersoll in 1782. An active captain during the Great Age of Sail, Ingersoll died at sea leaving the property to his daughter Susanna, a cousin of famed author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne's visits to his cousin's home are credited with inspiring the setting and title of his 1851 novel The House of the Seven Gables.” (Quote from the House of seven gables website: http://www.7gables.org/history_property.shtml) Despite this weak connection with the famous literary author the tour does talk about him quite often, and parts of the house have even been remodeled to become the house of Hawthorne’s fictional setting rather than the house it was in reality, such as the addition of a replica store in the front of the house that is a setting in the novel but was never part of the original house.

The tour of the house lasts about 40 minutes and in my opinion doesn’t leave a very strong impression of its visitors. The house is sparsely furnished and the tour guide, a young woman who tried to be lively despite her lack of material, led the group through very narrow passages and stairways to exhibit the extent of the house. I spent more time feeling claustrophobic than anything else. (I guess this stairway is the highlight of the house according to the website) There were a few rooms redone in period decoration, but it was hard to tell what was historic and what was not. Now I do not believe that a house must have objects within its rooms to tell a good story, Montpelier the home of James Madison has very little of its original furniture, but I do believe that in order to make the spaces come alive the guides have to work much harder at evoking imagery in an unfurnished room. (Link to the Montpelier website: Montpelier) I left the house feeling underwhelmed which implies that this guide was not able to truly invoke the spirit of the people and events that were within the walls of the house.

In one of the upstairs rooms that is sparsely furnished the tour guide pulled out a model of the house in multiple pieces and then preceded to show the group how the house was built and added onto and where the seven gables actually were. This was a nice visual, but it maybe would have been nice to let the group members do the building. This concept could be taken into the realm of new media, maybe having a multi-person touch screen allowing people to construct their own house of seven gables? Now I realize this would be an expensive endeavor but since there is space I think that some sort of touch screen interactive in the space would be a nice addition to a fairly dry tour. Timing can be an issue for a guided tour and allowing people to interact with something, so maybe this activity would be better in the visitor center?

Although the house tour was nothing to write home about, the gardens surrounding the house were beautiful with a great view of the water. The gardens were not the only positive thing about this experience, the actual birthplace of Hawthorn (built in 1750 originally on Union Street) is also on the property, and while there aren’t guided tours of the small home there are interpreters in the rooms, similar to the Paul Revere House, who can help answer questions about the man behind the books. I am including a link to a blog on Old Houses and their review of the site: http://www.oldhouseweb.com/architecture-and-design/the-house-of-the-seven-gables.shtml

Nathaniel Hawthorne's Birthplace

The Old Manse

The Old Manse 2010

 http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/greater-boston/old-manse.html

Concord is a town best known for its revolutionary history, so what better place to go and see a historic house than right next to the historic North Bridge, where locals defended their town from the marching redcoats and forced a British retreat back to Boston beginning the Revolutionary War? (check out this blog on the battle at the North Bridge: http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2010/04/real-fight-at-concord-bridge.html) Sitting just yards from this historic site is the Old Manse, a term meaning the minister’s house. It was in this very place on April 19th in 1775 that minister William Emerson watched from his window as the British were openly fired on and the War for Independence began. For more information on the role of Concord in the American Revolution check out Robert A. Gross’s book The Minutemen and Their World (summary at: http://bookstove.com/historical-fiction/the-minutemen-and-their-world-by-robert-gross/)

The Old Manse is accessible by car (Take Rt. 2 West. Where Rt. 2 takes sharp left, continue straight onto Cambridge Turnpike. At end, turn left onto Lexington Rd. to Concord Center. Turn right to take Monument St. north 0.5 mi) and is open to the public mid-April through October, 10AM – 5PM, Mon - Fri, and weekends from 10AM - 5PM on Saturdays and from 12Noon – 5PM on Sundays. From November through March, weather permitting, walk-in tours and pre-booked group tours are available on Thursdays and Fridays at 2PM, 3PM, and 4PM, and on weekends from 12 Noon – 4:30PM. Tours last about an hour and cost $8 per adult; $5 per child (6-12); and $7 for seniors and students with valid ID. If visitors want to make a day trip out to Concord to see the sites, this one is not far from the Orchard House, the Wayside Inn, and the Minuet Man National Park. It resides 10 minutes from downtown Concord where there are many cute restaurants and shops for the interested tourist. It is also only 6.5 miles from the historic town of Lexington, with which it has gone down in history as the location for the short heard round the world.

The Old Manse housed many famous historic families over its centuries of existence: Ripley, Bliss, and Emerson; but the couple most beloved and focused on by the house tour is Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne. The original house was built in 1770 for minister William Emerson. Initially the Minister’s house was closer to the church but Emerson desired to move his home slightly away from the center of the town. The Emerson family, which merged with the Bliss family and the Ripley family over time, kept the house in their possession until the 19^th century when Ralph Waldo Emerson called this place his home. It was here where Emerson would draft his famous essay “Nature” from an upstairs room. (link to text: http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/emerson/nature-contents.html) Later Emerson would rent his family home to his good friend Nathaniel Hawthorne who wrote a tribute to the homestead called Mosses from an Old Manse. (link to text: http://sparks.eserver.org/books/oldmanse.pdf) Hawthorne and his wife Sophia started their married life here.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's Signature

This tour begins in the back of the home as groups enter through the kitchen. This seems to be a trend in the way that historic houses are entered since all of the previously reviewed houses also begin in the kitchen area of the place. My guess is that it is easier to add a visitor center onto the back of the homes so that its architecture is not altered by modern additions, I also think it would be hard on the structure for groups to enter through the front door if the house is not properly secured and outfitted for such a thing. I was very excited for this tour, I had heard many good things from colleagues that the tours given here are interesting and entertaining.  I will state right now that I heartily disagree with those recommendations; this was one of the worst house tours I have ever been on.

To begin with the tour guide was possibly the oldest person I have ever met and I was not convinced that she wasn’t going senile. She rambled on and on and on about a set of water jugs hanging from the staircase before we even got into the first room. As a historian of the early American era, I usually am fairly adept at placing stories into a time frame and creating a timeline of the people and events that take place inside a given house while I am taking a tour. Yet even I could not figure out what these water jugs were significant for or why she was telling us about them and some fire before even explaining the timeframe of the house and its occupants. After a good ten minutes waiting in the hall for her to move, the guide finally brought the group into the first room where she promptly plopped herself down on a chair. Horrified I asked if the furniture in the house were historic artifacts and her response was that only about 20% of the items were originally to any of the occupants, the rest were historic reproductions. Somewhat mollified, I assumed that she was sitting in a reproduction. Three rooms later I realized that she didn’t seem to have any idea, which pieces were original and which were reproductions. She also didn’t seem to care if people touched the furniture! One elderly woman decided to sit on one of the upstairs beds, the guide told her that technically that was an artifact and she shouldn’t sit there but that she would let her sit there anyway! What sort of training do these docents have? What kind of museum is this? After seeing the disrespect that this guide had for the artifacts I had trouble paying any attention to her after this. I was unconvinced of her accuracy in the stories about the Hawthorns that she was relaying, and I doubted anything she told the group about the artifacts because she clearly lacked background in proper museum etiquette, let alone background in working in a museum. Not only did the guide allow visitors to touch everything, she also couldn’t keep her stories straight and often referred to Hawthorne living in the house during the Revolution, which is impossible (Hawthorne lived from 1804-1864) After leaving the house, the friend I was with was so confused about the house’s history that she had to pull out her iphone to google it, I don’t think a museum is doing their job is Wikipedia gives more accurate information than their docents. Check out the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Manse

Once again there was very little use of media, even the website does not provide a virtual tour or any sort of podcasts or videos. Initially I was inclined to just write off this house and say it doesn’t need media because it is just so bad, but I decided that wasn’t fair to the museum itself, only the tour guide was intolerable. I think this house could benefit from providing more content on their website. A timeline would be greatly appreciated as well as maybe providing podcasts of the more famous works that were produced within the house. I know that some works were very long but excerpts from Emerson’s “Nature” with an explanation of the transcendentalist movement could provide a lot of very useful background for people who are not versed in the literary movement of the 19^th century and who were not able to get good answers on their tour. Maybe even using social media to find better docents could greatly benefit this house. Facebook is a good way of determining who is interested in the subject matter and a good place to advertise jobs to students who may want to intern or work at a place like this. Using facebook or something similar could provide a larger pool of volunteer candidates, therefore allowing the house to diversify its staff and hopefully provide them with better docents.

Sophia and Nathaniel Hawthorne

The only interesting thing about this house is the etchings on the windowpanes in the dining room. Sophia Hawthorne used her diamond wedding ring to scratch lines of text and poetry into two of the windowpanes, leaving the only real traces of her presence in the house. If it were not for these small scratches I would say that this house lost everything that made it a piece of history because the interpretation was just so terrible. Historic houses have a terrible reputation for being dull and dry, just like the subject of history. I joined the museum field to help counter this experience because I know that if properly expressed history can come alive and inspire people. It is places like the Old Manse that make me feel like my goals are in vain because when a home cannot evoke interest what hope does a textbook have?

View of the Old Manse from the river

Orchard House

Orchard House 2010

http://www.louisamayalcott.org/

This old brown house just off of ­­­Rt 62 at 399 Lexington Road may not look very impressive but to many American females it might just be the most exciting New England House. Orchard House is the home of the beloved author of Little Women Louisa May Alcott. (http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/littlewomen/summary.html) To reach the house visitors can access the house by car (Directions from Interstate 95 (Route 128)
Take exit 30B, Route 2A WEST. Follow 2A past the entrance to Hanscom Air Force Base, heading toward Concord Center. At the fork in the road with a flashing yellow light (where 2A continues left), bear RIGHT, following the sign, "BATTLE ROAD APRIL 19, 1775  HISTORIC CONCORD” From this point, we are 1.4 miles on your right, .7 mile from Concord Center.) or by the commuter rail (Orchard House is a 1.2 mile or approximately 20-minute walk from the MBTA Commuter Rail (Purple Line to Fitchburg) located on Thoreau Street) The house is open to visitors Nov 1- March 31 Monday - Friday, 11:00 - 3:00, Saturday, 10:00 - 4:30, and Sunday, 1:00 - 4:30 (except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and January 1-2)with tours running every hour. Admission is $9.00 per adult, $8.00 per senior (+62) and college students (with ID), $6.00 per youth (6-17), and free for all children 6 and under or members.

School of Philosophy 2010

Originally two houses, Bronson Alcott created the current structure in 1857 when he purchased “two houses set upon twelve acres of land on the Lexington Road for $945.  He then moved the smaller tenant farmhouse and joined it to the rear of the larger manor house, creating extra rooms to house his wife and four daughters. Just behind the house is the Concord School of Philosophy, which was founded by Bronson Alcott in 1879 and ran for nine years as Mr Alcott attempted to teach the philosophy of Transcendentalism. House tours last about an hour and do not include the school, but afterwards visitors are welcome to take a look inside where interpreters are to help answer questions. 80% of the furnishings are original to the Alcott family and the rooms are decorated to the time period of their existence within the home. For more information on the Alcotts check out the American Literary Blog: http://americanliteraryblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Bronson%20Alcott

Louisa May Alcott's Bedroom (Postcard Image owned by Orchard House)

Tours of Orchard House are lead by docents who have a reverence for Louisa Alcott and her works, unfortunately I did not get the impression that they thought much of Bronson Alcott and he was mostly ignored on the tour. The tour guide who led my group was very knowledgeable about the architectural history of the house and clearly loves Ms. Alcott and her work. Sadly, the guide didn’t seem able to separate the Alcott family and the fictional characters of Ms. Alcott’s work Little Women. Throughout the tour the guide kept referring to the Alcott daughter’s by their fictional character’s name, making it very hard to understand about whom she was telling stories. Some of the people I was with were not familiar with Little Women (to be honest they were boys and I am not convinced that many boys unless asked to in school often choose to read Little Women) Since the guide kept telling stories about “Jo” or “Amy” and yet those were not names of the Alcott girls my friends often didn’t understand what was going on. I would just like to point out that Louisa May Alcott wrote many other pieces that had nothing to do with Little Women and the fact that this guide ignored those was more than mildly irritating. The tour guide also easily forgot her train of thought and would end up repeating the same information about each family member in every single room that was visited. All in all the experience left something to be desired, which was very disappointing since I had been recommended to this place by quite a few friends and historians. From what I have heard since, the quality of this tour really does depend on which guide visitors receive, since each person writes their own script for their time in the house.

Despite its weaknesses, the opportunity to see the house was inspiring. While not may of Louisa May Alcott’s works besides Little Women were focused on, the life of her sister May (or Amy as the tour guide liked to call her) was a highlight of the house. May was the artistic sister who loved to sketch figures and animals on all the walls of the house. These sketches and paintings have survived in both her bedroom and a few in Louisa’s making her personality really come alive in the house. May marries a Swiss businessman and musician named Ernest Nieriker and moves to France where she meets an untimely death in 1879, but her daughter Lulu returns to Orchard House and is taken care of by Aunt Louisa, living in her mother’s old room. Therefore the house has many layers of history all within the one space and regardless of the tour guides faults the opportunity to see this one room is worth the time and energy.

May Alcott's Bedroom (Postcard Image owned by Orchard House)

The only type of media that Orchard House incorporates is an introductory video of the Alcott family history that runs 20 min prior to the tour. As a suggestion on how to appropriately incorporate media into a historic house, which I do not believe should be in the historic rooms if enough of the original furniture is available; I would say using it in the visitor center would be useful. At Orchard House an index of Louisa May Alcott’s works and potentially excepts of significant passages would be very helpful, especially since the tour focuses so much on her novel Little Women. A touch screen with these images and excerpts would be a great way to save on paper and have a reusable and sharable resource for visitors. Another useful resource would be images and mini biographies of the Alcott family members to provide some background for visitors who miss the video, which I was one of, in order to prepare for the tour. Another suggestion I have is to create a podcast explaining the significance of the School of Philosophy and the transcendentalist movement as people walk through the building on their self guided exploration.

I would be willing to go back and maybe take another tour through the house, but only if someone else pays for it and I do NOT get the same boring tour guide!

Longfellow National Historic Site

Longfellow National Historic Site 2010

http://www.nps.gov/long/

Located at 105 Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just outside of Harvard Square, this large yellow Georgian House is commemorated as a National Historic Site in honor of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The house is easily accessible on the Red Line, at the Harvard Square stop. Visitors should exit the MBTA from the Church Street exit, walk south to Brattle Street, take a right and walk four blacks (passing historic Radcliff yard and Harvard’s Education Schools along the way). Along the way are the Tory Row houses, which are marked with blue circular plaques telling about the Revolutionary significance of each site.

The Longfellow House is one of seven houses originally built on Kings Highways in the 1750s (today known as Brattle Street) and has been continuously occupied from 1759-1975 until it was donated to the National Park Service to become a historic site. Some of the prominent members to live in the house were: Tory John Vassal Jr, Commander of the Continental Army General George Washington, Apothecary General Andrew Craigie, and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and family. Today the site honors both Washington and Longfellow in their tours of the home. Admission is $3 a person for everyone over the age of 15 and the house is open to the public May-October with 6 house tours a day (10:30 am, 11:30am, 1:00pm, 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm and 4:00pm). During the winter season the house is open to tours by reservation only.  About a mile past the house on the left at the intersections of Brattle and Mt Auburn Street is Mount Auburn Cemetery, which is the resting site for many famous 19^th century people, including Mr. Longfellow. (http://www.mountauburn.org/)

The tours of the Longfellow house last about 45 minutes and are led by park rangers who are passionate and animated by the subjects of their house. The tour I took was with a male ranger whose passion leaned towards literary history. He quoted 5 different Longfellow poems, some of which were recognizable, such as The Children’s Hour and Paul Revere’s Ride, and others not, like The Cross of Snow. (To read these poems check out: http://www.poemhunter.com/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/) Much of the tour focused on Longfellow, his friends, and his literary career as I was guided through the house room by room. Because the ranger was so passionate while he spoke I became absorbed in the story he was telling about the Longfellow’s and time sped by, it had not felt like I was in the house for close to an hour.

What I particularly enjoyed about the tour was that it made the people of the past some alive. Everything in the house is original to the Longfellow family, so it was easy to imaging the family moving through the rooms as the ranger told stories. I also appreciated that when he was asked a question to which he didn’t know the answer, the ranger was not ashamed to admit he didn’t know and would always offer to help find the answer at the end of the tour. The rangers never tried to make up answers, which is something I am generally weary of when taking tours of historic site, many guides do not know the surrounding history and often make up myths such as “they were just shorter back then” in order to explain why beds are so short. This myth is untrue, to see more on this check out: http://historymyths.wordpress.com/2010/06/19/myth-8-beds-were-shorter-back-then-because-people-were-shorter/

A few frustrating things about the house are: you cannot just walk through the house on your own, you must leave your bags outside the historic house in the visitor center (in a locked closet), and the upstairs is not accessible for people with a mobility handicap. I understand why visitors cannot bring bags into the house or wander around on their own, they have to preserve the collection, but it is a bit nerve wracking to have to leave personal items such as purses in a location away yourself, especially for those visitors who are tourists and nervous about being in a city.

The house does not incorporate any new media. A suggestion I would make, since the second floor of the house is not handicap accessible (apparently it doesn’t have to be according to ADA standards of historic house preservation: http://www.access-board.gov/adaag/html/adaag.htm#4.1.7) it would great if there was some sort of movie, slideshow, or touch screen with images of the interior of the rooms or close ups of some of the more interesting objects. This would allow visitors who are unable to access these spaces to still see what the house has to offer. Another way the Longfellow house could incorporate media would be to provide some sort of image progression of the house as it altered throughout its stages, again something as simple as a screen with rotating images could be very useful in this regard.

Despite a few inconveniences the tour is well worth the cost and travel time. If you are around Harvard Yard be sure to stop in!

Daguerreotype: Thomas G. Appleton, John G. Cosler, Julie Ward Howe, Fanny Appleton Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Horatia L. Freeman; 1852, Newport, Rhode Island. Object owned by the Longfellow National Historic Site

Introduction

Welcome to the Historic House Review Blog. This blog is being created as an assigned project through the Tufts Museum Program for a class on Museums and New Media. In this blog I will be describing different tours I have taken of historic houses in the New England area and giving my comments and recommendations. In each review I will give an introduction to the house and its significance, a summary of my tour, and comment on what the house does well and where it needs improvements, with a special eye for uses of media. I love historic houses so please feel free to leave me comments either on your reactions to what I am saying or even with just suggestions for other places to review!