Tory History Hunt

A scavenger hunt from Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site and Golden Ball Tavern Museum

Use this map to navigate the scavenger hunt!

This social media scavenger hunt is designed for kids to learn about Revolutionary War history from a new perspective: the people who were loyal to the Crown of Great Britain.

 

Why is the “Longfellow House” doing a Revolutionary War history activity? 

Before George Washington used 105 Brattle Street at his first headquarters, and nearly eighty years before Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his family used the home as their residence, the house was originally occupied by a Loyalist family. John Vassall, a member of the affluent Vasssall family, built the house for his family in 1759. The Vassalls lived on the property with several enslaved people. John and his family gained their weealth and prominence through sugar plantations in Jamaica, which relied heavily on the use of slave labor. In 1774, fearing possible harm and destruction of property from the growing Patriot movement, the Vassalls moved in 1774 from Cambridge to the Loyalist haven of Boston. John and his family left the house and the people they enslaved behind, and would eventually leave colonial America for London never to return.

 

Don’t want to do this on a screen? No problem! A printable PDF version (2.8 MB) for your child to fill out with a pencil and paper is available here.

The entire scavenger hunt takes place outside on the grounds of our site, public streets and green spaces. Please do not enter any of the buildings. Almost all of these sites are privately owned. Instead, keep to the sidewalks and public green spaces (including the grounds of 105 Brattle St.).

Questions? Email [e-mail]. Happy history hunting!

What do I need?

Comfortable shoes, a smartphone with internet access, and pencil and paper.

Where do I walk?

This page will tell you where to walk with addresses bolded in green with a Stop Number that corresponds to the Google Map.

What do I do?

Once at a location, you will get text to read (below) and then be asked to record a video or post a video with two hashtags, as described in each activity’s instructions.

How many activities do I need to do?

You must complete 5 or more activities to finish the Tory History Hunt and become a Tory History Hunt Champion.

 

 

1. 105 Brattle Street (Stop 1): #ItWasAFarm

Welcome to “Tory Row.”

The year is 1774 and it is the eve of revolution.

But you wouldn’t know it from the peaceful street you’re standing on. In 1774, only seven houses stood on this street. Back then, Cambridge was much different than it is today—it was quiet, peaceful, and very few people lived here. The river was also much closer than it is now, making the scene even more beautiful. The wealthy families on Tory Row built grand and comfortable houses for themselves to live in luxury.

John Vassall, Jr. had this house built in 1759 and he lived in it with his wife, Elizabeth Oliver Vassall, and their children. John’s family had owned a huge portion of Cambridge stretching from the water all the way back to Garden Street!

Activity: #ItWasAFarm

• Post 2 pictures of things that John Vassall could have seen in his time on Tory Row.
• Post 2 pictures of things that John Vassall could NOT have seen in his time on Tory Row.
• Record 1 sound that John Vassall could have heard in his time on Tory Row.
• Record 1 sound that John Vassall could NOT have heard in his time on Tory Row.

Make sure to tag each of the four pictures with #ItWasAFarm and #ToryHistoryHunt.

 

2. 105 Brattle Street (Stop 1): #FamilyTree

John and Elizabeth Vassall lived surrounded by their family.

• Susanna Vassall Ruggles, who lived with her husband, George Ruggles, at 175 Brattle, was John Vassall’s aunt.
• Rebecca Phips Lee, who lived with her husband, Judge Joseph Lee, at 159 Brattle Street was also John’s aunt.
• So was Mary Phips Lechmere, who lived with her husband Richard Lechmere at 149 Brattle Street!
• Henry Vassall, John’s uncle, lived at 94 Brattle until his death in 1769 when his widow, Penelope Royall Vassall, lived there alone.

Most closely tied of all, though, were the Olivers, who lived at what is now 33 Elmwood Street but was then still part of Tory Row. John Vassall’s sister, Elizabeth Vassall Oliver, married Thomas Oliver and they lived at 11 Elmwood. But that wasn’t all! Thomas Oliver’s sister, Elizabeth Oliver Vassall, married John Vassall. This made them brother and sister twice over.

Of the houses on Tory Row, only William Brattle had no familial connection to the Vassall family.

Activity: #FamilyTree

Draw a family tree. Families arrived in the US all different ways. Some came to the US as immigrants. Others were taken here as slaves. Others are indigenous to the area. Share a picture of your tree along with one way your family history shaped who you are.

Make sure to tag your post with #ToryHistoryHunt and #FamilyTree.

 

3. 105 Brattle Street (Stop 1): #ConnectedHistory

All of the homeowners of Tory Row were wealthy and many had vast estates. But how did these families come to be wealthy?

• John and his wife Elizabeth built a very comfortable life for themselves and their children in this house from the money they received from the sugar plantations they owned in Jamaica which were farmed by over a thousand enslaved people.
• Thomas Oliver, John Vassall’s brother-in-law and the owner of 33 Elmwood, owned a wealthy plantation in Antigua.
• George Ruggles, who built 175 Brattle Street, owned a plantation in Jamaica.
• Penelope Royall Vassall of 94 Brattle Street, also got her family’s money from plantations in the Carribean.

Many of the homes on this street were dependent on slavery in the Caribbean for their wealth.

Activity: #ConnectedHistory

Share a picture or map of a country in the Caribbean and tell us one fact that you learned about that country.

Make sure to tag your post with #ToryHistoryHunt and #ConnectedHistory.

 

4. 105 Brattle St (Stop 1): #SlaveryWasHere

Enslaved people not only earned the homeowners of Tory Row their fortunes. Tory Row also depended on slave labor in their homes on the street.

Eleven enslaved people lived right here on the property of 105 Brattle. We know some of their names: Tony, Cuba, Malcolm, James, William, Dinah, Darby, and Cyrus.

Thomas and Elizabeth Oliver, who lived at 33 Elmwood, enslaved a blacksmith named Buff, a farmer/gardener named Cato, two cooks named Jeoffrey and Mira, a coachman named Jerry, a housemaid named Jude, a sempstress named Sarah and three young children named Jenny, Violet, and Jerry.

John Vassall’s uncle, Henry, who also lived at 94 Brattle, enslaved at least seven people at a time in that house.

Richard Lechmere, who built 149 Brattle, didn’t show up to court to answer the petition for freedom of James, a man he had enslaved. (The court granted James freedom.)

Even William Brattle, the only Tory Row homeowner who wasn’t related to the Vassall Carribean wealth, owned at least one enslaved person.

Slavery built the world of the families on Tory Row from their plantations to the people who lived in their houses. Today we recognize the the wrongs of slavery and the damage it did to thousands of Africans who were brought to America. But we have no indication that John Vassall or the other Tories of Tory Row saw anything wrong with slavery.

Activity: #SlaveryWasHere

What is something you can see that is wrong in the world around you today? What can you do to change it? Record a video or post a picture and text of your response.

Make sure to tag your post with #ToryHistoryHunt and #SlaveryWasHere.

 

5. Longfellow Park (Stop 2): #PickASide

Why was Tory Row called “Tory Row”?

The wealthy families on Tory Row had a lot to lose if things changed in their relationship with Britain. Almost all of the male homeowners held office with the British government and many of them depended on British trade for their businesses. They were uninterested in the grievances of many of their fellow American colonists. Because of this, the Brattle Street homeowners were known as Loyalists to the Crown, or “Tories,” making this “Tory Row.”

In some ways, the Tories were like any other American colonists. Most colonists considered London their capital city, English was the main language on both sides of the Atlantic, and many colonists proudly called England “home.” In 1763, the English empire had just witnessed its greatest triumph after defeating the French in the Seven Years War. To most observers, the ties between England and the American colonies could not have been stronger.

But the war against France had been very costly and a standing army remained in America. The English Parliament looked to the colonies to pay more in taxes to support the army. This was where the dispute arose. Colonists were already paying some taxes, though much less than people in England. However, English tradition said that there should be no “taxation without representation.” This meant that citizens could not be taxed unless they were able to elect representatives to the English government. Colonists felt like they didn’t have a voice. What was to stop the government from creating even more taxes?

Tories were those opposed to the ideas of rebellion and/or independence.
Patriots felt the King had violated their rights and started considering independence in 1776.

Tensions flared. The Tories of Tory Row stayed loyal to the Crown and wanted to obey its laws. Others called for revolution. Many just wanted to stay out of the fight altogether.

Here was the breakdown of how people thought about the issue during the War:
Patriots: 40%
Tories: 20%
Neutrals: 40%
Activity: #PickASide
Pick one of the quotes below. Tell us why you agree with it and whether you think it’s a Tory or Patriot statement. Record a video or post a picture and text of your response.

1. “His Majesty the King and the Parliament have the right to tax the colonies and to make laws for the colonies. The laws they create are above those created by the colonies.”
2. “Only our elected representatives in our colonies have the right to tax us.”
3. “We have every right to protest and resist unfair laws. We tried to use peaceful measures like petition and boycotts.”
4. “People are bullied into obeying the boycotts of tea and other English goods. Am I not allowed the freedom to purchase what I want?”
5. “The national debt is due to the French and Indian War which was fought to protect us from the French. We should contribute taxes to help pay off this debt.”
6. “The streets of Boston are in chaos. We need the British troops here to restore and keep order.”
7. “Our taxes should be kept here in the colonies. They should not be used to pay royal officials or pay off England’s debt.”

Make sure to tag your post with #ToryHistoryHunt and #PickASide.

 

6. 42 Brattle Street (Stop 3): #PowderAlarm

This house was the home of William Brattle.

Though he had been friendly with the Patriot group the Sons of Liberty in 1769, Brattle was appointed as the leader of the provincial militia by the British military governor in 1771.

By 1774, rising tensions over the Tea Act and Intolerable Acts in the colony had made Thomas Gage, the British military governor of Massachusetts, anxious that the American Patriots would take up arms against the Tory minority and the army. In order to prevent this, he quietly gave orders to remove stores of gunpowder from around the colony to prevent Patriots from taking control of them.

Brattle wrote to Gage warning the governor that locals had already taken some of the powder in the Somerville stores, located in present day Powderhouse Square, though there was some left. Gage promptly sent troops to collect the remaining powder in the Somerville powderhouse.

We don’t know if Gage lost Brattle’s letter, if someone stole it, or if it was deliberately released to the public, but soon everyone knew the contents of Brattle’s letter and rumors engulfed the area: British troops were seizing gunpowder across the country! They were marching on the Patriots! People had been killed by British troops!

As with most rumors, these were grounded in truth (the collection of gunpowder) but spread into the fantastical (that war had broken out). All over the colony, angry patriots armed themselves and gathered, bent on violence.

On September 2, 1774, angry mobs descended on Brattle Street, starting with this house.

Activity: #PowderAlarm

The Patriots who swarmed Cambridge on September 2nd were responding to rumors and fear. But these rumors and fear were built on actual things the British government had done like Intolerable Acts, the Tea Act, and the removal of gunpowder. Do you think the Patriots swarming the home on Tory Row were justified? Why or why not?

Record a video or post a picture and text of your response. Make sure to tag your post with #ToryHistoryHunt and #PowderAlarm.

 

7. 33 Elmwood Street (Stop 4): #HowWeHandleDisagreements

On September 2nd, 1774, 4,000 men (enough to fill 80 school buses!) marched on exactly the path you just did and surrounded the Brattle Street mansions, demanding the men inside resign from their government positions.

The crowd arrived in front of Elmwood, where Thomas Oliver and his wife, Elizabeth Vassalll Oliver, were inside with their children. Here is Thomas’s description of what happened:

I was just going into my carriage to proceed to Boston, when a vast crowd advanced, and in a short time my house was surrounded by four thousand people, and on quarter part in arms…I waited in my hall, when five persons entered...to demand my resignation as a Councillor. I reproached them with ingratitude & false dealings, and refused to hear them. They answered that the People were dissatisfied… [and] demanded my resignation, as drawn up in a Paper which they held in their hands. I absolutely refused to sign any paper. They desired me to consider the consequences of refusing the demands of an enraged People. I told them they might put me to death, but I would never submit. The populace growing impatient began to press up to my windows, calling for vengeance against the foes of their liberty. The five persons appeared anxious for me, and, impressed with some humanity, endeavoured to appease the people; but in vain. I could hear them from a distance, swearing they would have my blood. At this time the distresses of my Wife and Children, which I heard in the next room, called up feelings.

Thomas Oliver eventually agreed to the mob’s demands, fearing for the lives of his wife, Elizabeth, and their children.
Activity: #HowWeHandleDisagreements
Tell us what you would have done in Thomas Oliver’s place.

Record a video or post a picture and text of your response. Make sure to tag your post with #ToryHistoryHunt and #HowWeHandleDisagreements.

 

8. 159 Brattle Street (Stop 5): #ReturningHome

This was the home of Judge Joseph Lee and his wife, Rebecca Phipps Lee. Of the Tories of Tory Row, Judge Lee was the only one to return to the home he fled on this street after the War for Independence.
Activity: #ReturningHome
Would you have returned to the home you fled fearing for your life? Or would you have built a new life elsewhere?

Record a video or post a picture and text of your response. Make sure to tag your post with #ToryHistoryHunt and #ReturningHome.

Note: 159 Brattle is now the Headquarters of the Cambridge Historical Society! Check out their website here.

 

9. 149 Brattle Street (Stop 6): #FriendsWhoDisagree

Mary Phips Lechmere acquired the land for this house as part of her inheritance from her father. Though she and her husband, Richard Lechmere, had this house built for them, they sold it to Jonathan Sewall in 1774.

Jonathan Sewall was a Patriot who changed his mind. Sewall graduated from Harvard in 1748 and practiced law. One of his closest friends was John Adams and he married Abigail Adams’s cousin, Esther.

Sewall and Adams wrote countless letters to one another over the years that show the warmth and affection the two friends had for one another. Sewall even offered to go get inoculated against smallpox with Adams!

However, on the question of American independence, the two were opponents: Adams was an ardent Patriot and Sewall a staunch supporter of the Tory cause. Their relationship broke down and the two did not speak for many years.

Thankfully, when Adams was in London serving as the American ambassador to the British court, the two were able to mend fences.

As Sewall wrote:

though, during the American contest,...an enthusiastic zeal for the imagined or real glory and welfare of his country...may have suspended the operation of those social and friendly principles which, I am positive, are in [Adams], innate and congenial, yet sure I am they could not be eradicated. They might sleep, inactive, like the body in the grave, during the storm raised by ...ambition...but a resuscitation must have been the immediate consequence of the peace.

It can be even harder to have disagreements with your friends than with anyone else.

Activity: #FriendsWhoDisagree

Tell us about a time when you and a friend disagreed. How did you handle it? How did your friend handle it?

Record a video or post a picture and text of your response. Make sure to tag your post with #ToryHistoryHunt and #FriendsWhoDisagree.

 

10. 94 Brattle Street (Stop 7): #ChurchCipher

By the end of 1774, all of the Tories of Tory Row had fled their homes on this street. Some fled into Boston. Others went to England.

But the story of Tories on Tory Row continued throughout the war, despite the flight of the Tories.

Dr. Benjamin Church was one of the prominent leaders of the Sons of Liberty, trusted by Joseph Warren, Sam Adams, John Adams, and Paul Revere. In July of 1775 he was appointed Chief Physician & Director General of the Continental army, moving into this house that Penelope Vassall had vacated when she fled after the Powder Alarm.

But Dr. Church didn’t stay here long. By October of 1775 he had been summoned before Washington to explain why he had written coded letters to General Thomas Gage, commander in chief of the British forces in America, in the form of coded letters.

Dr. Benjamin Church was put on trial and imprisoned across the street from headquarters. Eventually, he was banished from the colony and presumably set sail for the West Indies.

Activity: #ChurchCipher

Click here to find Benjamin Church's cipher. Pick one of the five lines of code and use the Cipher to decipher it!

Post a picture and/or the text of your deciphered code. Make sure to tag your post with #ToryHistoryHunt and #ChurchCipher.

 

11. Old Burying Ground of Cambridge (Stop 8): #HiddenContributions

Find the Vassall Tomb. (It is a brownish-reddish table looking stone structure.)

The most obviously visible contributions left by the Tories of Tory Row were the large lavish dwellings they lived in. But maybe the longest lasting contribution of the Tories of Tory Row were made by the people they had once enslaved.

When the Tories of Tory Row fled Cambridge after the Powder Alarm, they thought they’d be back shortly after the agitation calmed down, so they left their belongings: their paintings, their furniture, but most importantly, their slaves.

There is a story that Darby Vassall, the son of Anthony and Cuba Vassall, was swinging on the gate of the Vassall house when Washington arrived to take possession of the house as his headquarters. According to the story, Washington “good naturedly” offered to take Darby into his service. Darby responded by asking Washington what his wages would be, shocking Washington that he expected to be paid for his work.

But Darby Vassall did a great deal to build the community of Cambridge and Greater Boston. He married Lucy Holland and had four sons and a daughter. He and his brother Cyrus were among the founding members of the new African Society associated with the African quarter and Meeting House on Beacon Hill. William Cooper Nell invited Darby to attend a commemoration of the Boston Massacre in 1858. He socialized with Lunsford Lane, one of the leaders of Cambridge’s African American community, as well as white abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips. On his death in 1861, he was the oldest member of the Brattle Street Church.

Darby Vassall is buried in this plot, along with the white Vassall family members who owned Darby and his family. Catherine Russell, the granddaughter of Henry Vassall, granted Darby a “pass” to be buried in the family plot.

Activity: #HiddenContributions

There are lots of people who make contributions to our lives who go totally unseen - whose stories we don’t hear. Think about your life. Who is someone who has made your better who you never hear people thank? Why do you think that is?

Record a video or post a picture and text of your response. Make sure to tag your post with #ToryHistoryHunt and #HiddenContributions.

 

12. Cambridge Common (Stop 9): #ICompletedTheHunt

Take a picture of yourself with your best “Tory History Champion” pose. Make sure to tag your post with #ToryHistoryHunt and #ICompletedTheHunt.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You’ve completed the Tory History Hunt!

In order to receive your certificate, please email [e-mail] with the subject “Tory History Hunt Champion” and include your full name and your mailing address in the email. You will be emailed a completion certificate, and, if you’re one of the first twenty to complete the hunt, you will be mailed a prize!