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L.L.bien.com. Be an outsider. decades before Henry Wadsworth Longfellow would call the House on Brattle Street home.

A general, tasked with leading the nation to freedom,

would take up residency, and an enslaved couple would have a lasting and profound effect on Cambridge, Massachusetts.

I'm Jason Epperson and this is the America's National Parks podcast.

On this episode, The Longfellow House Washington's

headquarters National Historic Site.

Yes, that's its awkward full name.

And two stories of freedom from two very different perspectives. George Washington arrived in Cambridge on July 2nd, 1775.

That evening he formally took command from Massachusetts General Artemis Ward and went to work.

Two weeks later, Washington relocated to the grand Georgian mansion of the evacuated loyalist

John Vassal.

It's here at 105 Brattle Street that Washington experienced the frustrations of dealing with the faulty political structures developed to replace British colonial institutions.

For the first time, Washington, an owner of enslaved people since age 11,

would witness men of color functioning as effective and dedicated soldiers.

But what did his time at the Vassal Home really do to shape his views on slavery?

This show isn't affiliated with the National Park Service, but from time to time we like to share with you their interpretive work.

With more on George Washington's development as a leader, as well as his shifting views on race, slavery, and freedom, we turn to this piece from the park and Ranger Anna.

Welcome to Longfellow House Washington's headquarters National Historic Site.

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