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The National Park Service announces the 2023 public season at Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, including the Summer Arts Festival, historic house tours, family programs, and a special museum exhibit, “Thoroughly Japanese: Charley Longfellow’s Collection.” This site is free and open to all through October 30, 2023.
“The 2023 public season is a celebration of history, culture, and community,” said Site Manager Chris Beagan. “We invite everyone to visit for a tour or an outdoor event, or to picnic and enjoy the gardens – there are so many wonderful ways to connect to this special place.”
The Longfellow House Summer Arts Festival, a celebration of poetry, music, and community, runs Sunday afternoons through August 20. Highlights include the Longfellow Pride Picnic on June 17, Second Annual Juneteenth Gathering on June 18, performances by students from the Berklee College of Music, and the Golden Rose Poetry Award with Afaa M. Weaver on August 13.
The Juneteenth Gathering will honor those who endured slavery and seized freedom on Brattle Street, their living descendants, and the long history of Black freedom activism in Cambridge and beyond. This event will feature an outdoor community gathering with music and #Pop-Up Poetry with Denise Washington and Akili Jamal Haynes, speeches by the descendants of Tony and Cuba Vassall, and family-friendly activities, followed by an indoor screening of the award-winning 2022 documentary Descendant.
The complete Longfellow House Summer Arts Festival schedule includes:
June 17, 2:00-4:00 PM
Longfellow Pride Picnic
June 18, 4:00-8:30 PM
Juneteenth Gathering + Film Screening
June 24, 3:00 PM
Concert: Juventas New Music Ensemble
June 25, 3:00 PM
Poetry Reading: Sam Cornish Award with Harris Gardner & Ruth Lepson
July 2, 3:00 PM
Concert: Jailene Michelle (Berklee Summer in the City Series)
July 9, 3:00 PM
Poetry in Translation: Dzvinia Orlowsky & Nidia Hernandez
July 16, 3:00 PM
Concert: Annica McDougall (Berklee Summer in the City Series)
July 22, 3:00 PM
Concert: Peter Smith
July 23, 3:00 PM
Poetry Reading: Enzo Silon Surin & Joan Houlihan
July 30, 3:00 PM
Concert: Tascha (Berklee Summer in the City Series)
August 6, 3:00 PM
Concert: Berklee Summer in the City Series (performers TBA)
August 13, 3:00 PM
Poetry Reading: 2023 Golden Rose Award with Afaa M. Weaver
August 20, 3:00 PM
Poetry Reading: Laura Budofsky Wisniewski & Rajiv Mohabir
Guided Tours of the historic Longfellow House are offered Friday-Monday, 10:00 AM-4:30 PM. For 200 years, the inhabitants of this house shaped American history, culture, and identity. Tours explore the different eras of the site’s history through its remarkable collections. Daily Deep Dive tours invite visitors to examine the site’s art collection, history of slavery and freedom, queer history, or George Washington’s complex time in Cambridge.
Family Fun Saturdays at Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters take place every summer Saturday from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM. Enjoy a variety of family-friendly crafts, games, stories and activities designed for kids ages 2-8! A kid-friendly tour of the house is also offered at 11:30 AM.
“Thoroughly Japanese”: Charley Longfellow’s Collection is a special museum exhibit that highlights the site’s extensive Japanese art object collection. This special exhibit is on view Friday-Monday through October 30. Through timing, luck, and his famous name, Charley Longfellow had almost unprecedented access as a foreigner in 1870s Japan. At every stop along the way, he collected “curios” and souvenirs.
Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site preserves the house that served as headquarters for General George Washington during the Siege of Boston and later home to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the world’s foremost 19th century poets. The 2023 Longfellow Summer Arts Festival is generously supported by the Friends of Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters and the Mass Cultural Council. Key partners include the New England Poetry Club, an association of poets founded in 1915 by Amy Lowell, Robert Frost, and Conrad Aiken to foster the art of poetic expression, and the Berklee Summer in the City Series, free concerts throughout the greater Boston area by students, faculty, and alumni from Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
Last updated: May 30, 2024