This Georgian dwelling, built in 1759 by the Loyalist John Vassall, served as the headquarters of General Washington during the siege of Boston. In the 19C Henry Wadsworth Longfellow lived in the house between 1837 and 1882, the period during which he wrote Evangeline (1847) and The Song of Hiawatha (1855). Today the house contains many of the Longfellows' original furnishings, including 10,000 books, artworks by such noted painters as Gilbert Stuart and Albert Bierstadt and, in the poet's study, a chair crafted from the wood of the "spreading chestnut tree," made famous by Longfellow's The Village Blacksmith. A small garden graces the rear of the house.