BFW Revisited: Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site

Ben Franklin's World

Liz Covart

History, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

250 years ago, the British evacuated Boston: driven out by cannon that had traveled 300 miles from Fort Ticonderoga. But where did the plan for those cannons take shape?In this Revisited episode, we return to our conversation with Garrett Cloer, now Program Manager for Interpretation and Visitor Experience at Saratoga National Historical Park, to explore the Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site in Cambridge, Massachusetts.This Georgian mansion served as George Washington's home and headquarters for nearly nine months during the Siege of Boston. In this house, Washington forged the Continental Army and plotted the moves that liberated the city. Garrett reveals the house's Loyalist origins, life inside during the siege, and how poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow later transformed it into a literary landmark.A companion to Episode 436 on Henry Knox's Noble Train of Artillery. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/194RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 112: The Tea Crisis of 1773🎧 Episode 228: The Boston Massacre🎧 Episode 296: The Boston Massacre: A Family History🎧 Episode 409: The Battles of Lexington & Concord🎧 Episode 413: Dr. Joseph Warren & the Battle of Bunker Hill🎧 Episode 436: Fort Ticonderoga & Henry Knox's Noble Train of ArtillerySUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩‍💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:24.3	Last One Laughing, new series, watch now, only on Prime Video.
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0:54.3	Ben Franklin's World is a production of Clio Digital Media.
0:57.3	And support for this episode comes from the Massachusetts Historical Society.
1:01.6	The first historical society founded in the United States in 1791.
1:17.1	Hello! Hello and welcome to Ben Franklin's World Revisited,
1:21.8	a series of classic episodes that bring fresh perspective to our latest episodes and had deeper connections to our understanding of early American history.
1:26.0	And I'm your host, Liz Covert.
1:28.9	250 years ago, on March 5, 1776, British General William Howe looked up from Boston at
1:35.3	Dorchester Heights, and he saw something that changed everything. Cannon. Rows of heavy artillery
1:41.5	appeared overnight, aimed directly at his forces in Boston and the fleet anchored in Boston Harbor.
1:47.5	Howe had planned a counterattack, but that fell apart in a storm. So over the next 12 days, how faced reality?
1:54.2	On March 17, 1776, the British evacuated Boston. The siege of Boston and the British occupation was finally over.
2:02.4	Now, in our last episode, Episode 436, we followed the cannon atop Dorchester Heights
2:08.0	on their remarkable journey south from Fort Ticonderoga. Nearly 60 tons of artillery
2:13.8	hauled across 300 miles of frozen winter terrain by Henry Knox, Philip Schuyler,
	...

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