This presentation was created for Longfellow National Historic Site in the 2006 season when I was an interpretive ranger there.

1. “ P layground of the H ome and R esting P lace of the S pirit” The History and Restoration of the Longfellow Garden

2. Vassall Mansion, built 1759 Glover’s Marblehead Regiment at the Delaware Crossing, 1776 George Washington’s Headquarters, 1775-6

3. Craigie House, 1815

5. Rear of the Longfellow House, by Vautin 1845

6. Dolben’s Garden Beds, 1847

9. Construction of the Garden, Winter 1904

12. Hutcheson’s Garden, Post 1905

14. Ellen Biddle Shipman’s Garden

16. Shipman’s design changed the character of the garden from romantic and overgrown to a three dimensional design with wisteria, conifers, and fruit trees which add a vertical element to the garden beds. Many people appreciated the Longfellow tradition of drawing in the garden.

17. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana, Alice Longfellow, and friends

18. A place for celebrations Home to many generations A family wedding in the pergola Anne Thorp, the poet’s daughter, and her granddaughter Mary Smith

20. Longfellow Formal Garden, 1940

21. The Longfellow Parlor

23. Archaeological Trenches

24. Non-Historic Tree Removal

25. Reconstruction of the Pergola

26. Restoration of Side and Central Beds

29. “ A true summer morning, warm and breezy. Fanny sat under the linden-tree and read to me Heine’s poems, while I lay on a hay-cock; and Charley, red as a clover blossom, ran to and fro and into all possible mischief…” ~Entry from H.W.Longfellow journal June 4, 1846

31. Art in the Garden Edith Longfellow’s Lilacs , May 30, 1860 age 6 The tradition continues

32. Family Days, 2005 NPS Staff and the Concordant Volunteers present word games and other period activities.

33. The Garden, June 2006

34. In all places then, and in all seasons, Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings, Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons, How akin they are to human things. ~ “Flowers” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow