Longfellow House, Washington's Headquarters
The child born enslaved here who wanted wages from George Washington, and the crypt he chose at the end.
Listen to this place’s story in Peplos.
How the story begins
George Washington, the story goes, told a six-year-old to go into this house and work, and the boy asked what he would be paid. His name was Darby Vassall, and in the story he was swinging on the gate. It was the summer of 1775, and he had only just come home. He was born on this estate to Cuba and Anthony, enslaved by the Vassalls. Then he was given or sold to a man named George Reed in Woburn.
The rest is in the app. Peplos plays the full story when you reach the place. You can also listen ahead of time.
Visiting
105 Brattle Street, Cambridge. The house is entered by free guided tour only, Friday to Monday, and the 2026 season ended on 2 November. Until tours resume, see the house from outside: the National Park Service lists the grounds as open daily from dawn to dusk.
Photos
Sources
- Harvard Magazine, How the American Revolution freed a future abolitionist
- National Park Service, Darby Vassall
- National Park Service, Slavery, Freedom and Activism at 105 Brattle Street
- National Park Service, Black History at the Vassall Estate
- Mount Vernon, Darby Vassall
- National Park Service, Guided tours
- Cambridge Day, Though dwelling in a land of freedom, 2022
- National Park Service, Longfellow House hours
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