A Poet, a President, and Public Engagement: Archaeological Investigations at Longfellow House (Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, Cambridge, MA)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Public Lands, Public Sites: Research, Engagement, and Collaboration" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Before Henry Wadsworth Longfellow moved into the yellow house on Brattle Street in Cambridge, MA, it was already historic, having served as the home and headquarters for General George Washington in 1775–1776. In anticipation of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the NPS Northeast Archeological Resources Program conducted archaeological excavations in front of the home. The project was initiated to ground truth the results of geophysical surveys that identified a wide variety of potential landscape and archaeological features. Excavations in 2022 uncovered elements from an eighteenth-century formal garden and the foundation of an early colonial house. The park’s urban setting created an ideal opportunity to collaborate with local researchers, students, and volunteers and engage the public. This paper will discuss the results of the excavations and the unique combination of technology, methodology, and outreach that were used to address research questions and share the project with the public.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Public Lands, Public Sites: Research, Engagement, and Collaboration   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36343.0