⁨Longfellow House and Washington's Headquarters in ⁨Cambridge, MA⁩/Senior Missionary Meeting/Hingham Stake Meeting

 

Longfellow House

View of Longfellow Chapel in Cambridge from Longfellow house front porch

Longfellow Chapel, Cambridge, MA

This home was George Washington's military headquarters during the Seige of Boston.  The owners had fled as they were Tories.  The street in front of the home was known as Tory Row because many of the residents were Loyalists during the American Revolution.  The Longfellow family purchased the house in 1843.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This home has been preserved for many years with original furnishings and pictures.

You can tell by all the pictures we took that we loved this home and a bit of history!

The above is only a small portion of the poem.  Longfellow was a poet, not a pure historian.  He focused much on mythology and legend.  Paul Revere never made it to Concord Bridge as his poem memorializes.  He was stopped by a patrol of British officers who were out on the road to stop any express riders from Boston.  They captured Revere (and let him go a few hours later without his horse). He walked back to Lexington where it is said he was in time to witness part of the battle on Lexington Green.  William Dawes was actually the one to get all the way to Concord with the alarm. Paul Revere was more well known at the time and some think Longfellow thought it was easier to write a poem and rhyme with the well-known Paul Revere than William Dawes.  All I know is that the alarm was given and the patriots responded.

William Dawes

Joseph Warren would not just send out Paul Revere that night, but would commission William Dawes to make the ride to warn the colonial minutemen as well.

In 1896, American poet Helen F. Moore would be among the first to correct this minor oversight of history when she composed a parody of Longfellow's poem with her own version:

Tis all very well for the children to hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere;
But why should my name be quite forgot,
Who rode as boldly and well, God wot?
Why should I ask? The reason is clear-
My name was Dawes and his Revere.

The end  of the poem:

Part of Battle Road - Paul Revere and William Dawes would have ridden through a similar area very close to this point.  We love to walk in this area.

Senior Missionary meeting with President and Sister Brough.  Approximately six more couples have arrived since we have been here, but we are the only ones assigned to WSRS.

Welfare and Self-Reliance Committee meeting with some of the leadership of Hingham, MA Stake.  Numbers are lower due to summer vacations.