on fellow ous L g ulletinH e Volume 12 No. 1 A Newsletter of the Friends of the Longfellow House and the National Park Service June 2008 A Paul Revere House Centennial andB the Longfellow Contribution n April 18 the Paul Revere Memorial the process of crafting OAssociation celebrated the one-hun- these iconic characters, dredth anniversary of the restoration of Longfellow heightened Paul Revere’s house and its opening as a the awareness and appre- museum. As part of the event, schoolchild- ciation of antiquarian ren recited the stirring words of Paul Revere’s relics in his native region Ride, Henry Longfellow’s poem that ele- and the nation as a evere Memorial Association vated Paul Revere to mythic status. Longfel- whole, and he popular- low, poet-chronicler of American history, ized historic places asso- would have been proud to know that his ciated with these figures. 1860 classic was in large part responsible for On North Square in the preservation of the memory and arti- Boston’s North End, the facts of this Revolutionary War patriot. wooden building now The Paul Revere House as it was restored in 1908 and remains today Through his narrative poems, Longfel- known as the Paul Revere Photo courtesy of the Paul R low created national myths, among them House has survived numerous transforma- adapted to the less-sloping Georgian style, the story of the Boston silversmith who tions. Between 1676 and 1681, a wealthy mer- and a third story was added. “spread the alarm through every Middle- chant built it as a two-story colonial resi- In 1770 at the age of thirty-five, Paul sex village and farm” that the British army dence with a second-floor overhang. In the Revere purchased the almost century-old was about to attack the colonial rebels. In mid-eighteenth century the roofline was (continued on page 2) Longfellow Family Members in the Historic Preservation Movement n the United States, the idea of pre- because it had once served as General Iserving the nation’s history through Washington’s headquarters. “We have its buildings and places began gradu- decided to let father purchase this ally after the American Revolution and grand old mansion if he will,” Fanny became an organized campaign shortly wrote to her brother in 1843. “Mr. before the Civil War. Several genera- Greene of Rome, a great friend of tions of Longfellow family members Henry’s ... has excited an historical were interested and actively involved appreciation, or rather reminded us in historic preservation. how noble an inheritance this is – Many Americans cherished and where Washington dwelt in every attempted to protect places identified room.” A contemporary newspaper with George Washington and the Rev- article reported the purchase and that olutionary War. One of the first suc- the new owners planned to create a cessful acts of preservation took place Washington room: “It is said that he in Philadelphia in 1813. Efforts by Alice Longfellow, seated third from the right, with other members intends to enrich one room, at least, local historical societies helped pre- of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, 1912 with furniture that has been in the vent the demolition of Independence Hall evidence, Henry sought out sites connected possession of Washington.” (then known as the Old State House) with history and culture – such as the In 1850 Longfellow visited Washington’s where the founding fathers had drafted and houses of Voltaire, Goethe, and Durer – as homestead in Virginia and remarked on its signed the Declaration of Independence. well as ancient ruins and castles. disrepair. “Went with C. and M. to Mt. Ver- Henry Longfellow himself valued the Back home he served as an early preser- non,” he wrote in his journal. “Steamed to historic significance of places. Traveling in vationist. Both he and his new bride Fanny Alexandria, and then a coach to Mt. Vernon. Europe where historic preservation was in felt a special attachment to Craigie House (continued on page 2) 1 - Revere House Centennial & Longfellow (continued from page 1) house. He lived there off and on until 1800 that a culture could not survive without pre- with his mother, his wife Sarah (and after her serving reminders of its origin and charac- death, his wife Rachel), and many children. ter. With almost all new materials and VWX In the nineteenth century, the building Appleton’s counsel, Chandler restored the Friends of the Longfellow House was converted to a tenement with its ground exterior of the Revere house to its seven- Board of Directors floor serving as – at various times – a cigar teenth-century appearance and the second Heather S. Moulton, President factory, a grocery store, and a bank. These floor interior to Revere’s occupancy. Besides Barclay Henderson, Clerk commercial uses caused extreme changes to Revere’s few possessions and other period Robert C. Mitchell, Treasurer the structure, many of which were never objects that the association installed, the Hope Cushing documented. The building fell into disre- patriot would not have recognized his house. Diana Der-Hovanessian pair as the surrounding neighborhood “[The house] now stands,” reported the Maura Graham Edward Guleserian became home to poor immigrants. In 1900 Boston Sunday Herald on April 19, 1908, “in the Elisabeth W. Hopkins all but four of the neighborhood’s wooden very inundation and overflow of a popula- Sarah B. Jolliffe dwellings from this era had been razed. tion foreign born and coming to us utterly Linda Almgren Kime In 1902 Paul Revere's great-grandson apart from all the traditions, history, reli- Laura Nash bought the building to prevent its demoli- gion and tone of the North End of Boston Elizabeth F. Potter tion. Three years later several prominent in 1775.” Hoping to help Americanize the Lynne Spencer Bostonians – including Fanny Longfellow’s newcomers by introducing them to the icon nephew William Sumner Appleton Jr. – his uncle Henry Longfellow had created, Advisory Board organized the Paul Revere Memorial Asso- Appleton wanted the house to be “a con- Ruth Butler LeRoy Cragwell ciation. By 1907 the group had raised enough stant incentive to patriotic citizenship and Diana Korzenik money to buy and restore the old house. the study of our national institutions.” He Richard Nylander In 1908 the association hired Joseph remade the house into a museum “which Stephen D. Pratt Everett Chandler, an architect particularly would draw visitors from all parts.” It was Marilyn Richardson interested in the seventeenth-century colo- one of the earliest historic house museums Marc Shell nial period who had restored Boston’s Old in the country and Appleton’s first com- Charles Sullivan State House the previous year. He believed pleted historic preservation project. Lowell A. Warren Jr. Administrator Longfellows in Historic Preservation (continued from page 1) J.L. Bell What a road, good heavens! And in what a the Society for the Preservation of New Newsletter Committee dilapidated, squalid condition we found England Antiquities (SPNEA), and she Glenna Lang, Editor, Writer & Designer everything there! Nothing fresh and beauti- became its vice president. (For more on James M. Shea ful but the spring, and the situation of the William Sumner Appleton Jr., see page 4.) house overlooking a bend of the Potomac.” Another of Alice’s cousins took part in opq In 1853 people concerned about the the historic preservation movement. In 1916 National Park Service decay of Washington’s long-time planta- Alexander (Waddy) Wadsworth Longfellow Myra Harrison, Superintendent tion home organized the first American Jr., an architect who designed buildings in James M. Shea, Museum Manager historic preservation group, the Mount the Colonial Revival style, prepared sections Lauren Downing, Administrative Officer Vernon Ladies Association, and a move- and plans for the restoration of Boston’s first Nancy Jones, Education and Visitor Services ment was born. Comprised of women from Harrison Gray Otis House, which became Paul Blandford, Museum Educator many states, the association raised money and remains the headquarters for SPNEA Anita Israel, Archives Specialist and bought the deteriorating property. (now called Historic New England). Waddy David Daly, Collections Manager In 1880 Alice Longfellow joined the worked closely with Sumner on this restora- Lauren Malcolm, Museum Technician association and served as the vice-regent for tion and several others. Flo Smith, Management Assistant Massachusetts until she died in 1928. Using In her last years Alice also participated Liza Stearns, Education Specialist her own funds, she hired an architect to in the rehabilitation of the Wayside Inn, Scott Fletcher, Facility Manager restore the Mount Vernon library. She another landmark her father’s poetry had acquired books for it and furnished it with made famous. She helped her friends Printed by Newprint Offset, Waltham, Mass. original or period pieces. Henry Ford, the automobile manufacturer, Alice maintained her father’s Brattle and his wife, Clara, who had purchased the 1234 Street house after his death in 1882 and saw neglected building in 1923 in an effort to All images are from the Longfellow National Historic to it that the necessary modernizations to preserve this place of literary fame. Site collections, unless noted otherwise. the kitchen and bathrooms did not harm Alice’s nephew Richard H. Dana IV con- its historic integrity. In 1910 she helped her tinued the family interest in historic preser- cousin William Sumner Appleton Jr. vation. An architect in the Colonial Revival (known as Sumner) found the nation’s first style, he restored a number of eighteenth- regional historic preservation organization, century homes in Litchfield, Connecticut. - 2 Interview with a Friend…Meet Melanie Hall, Historic Preservation Professor A professor of art history, Melanie Hall was a British interest and an American father, his daughters, and [Henry’s sister] currently directs and teaches in Boston interest.