1786 Federal-style brick house at 489 Congress Street — Portland's oldest surviving peninsula building and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's boyhood home, host to a 10-year-running 'Longfellow's Haunted House' candlelit tour.
489 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Standard Maine Historical Society admission for daytime tours; 'Longfellow's Haunted House' candlelit tours are a separately ticketed seasonal program.
Access
Limited Access
1786 brick Federal house with multiple stories and original stairs; not accessible above the first floor.
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1786 · Oldest surviving structure on the Portland peninsula · National Historic Landmark · Childhood home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Wadsworth-Longfellow House at 489 Congress Street is the oldest surviving building on the Portland peninsula. It was constructed in 1785-1786 by General Peleg Wadsworth, a Revolutionary War officer and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's maternal grandfather, as a brick Federal-style residence at what was then the western edge of town. The brick was reportedly imported by ship from Philadelphia.
Longfellow was born at his uncle's nearby Fore Street house in 1807 but grew up in the Wadsworth-Longfellow House through his Bowdoin College years. The house became permanently associated with him and shaped many of his early poems, including 'My Lost Youth.'
Longfellow's younger sister Anne Longfellow Pierce, who was widowed at 30, lived in the house for the remainder of her life. She is credited with deliberately preserving the furnishings, books, and personal effects exactly as the family had used them. On her death in 1901, she bequeathed the property to the Maine Historical Society, making it one of the earliest American historic house museums.
The house was designated a National Historic Landmark and remains under the stewardship of the Maine Historical Society, which operates an adjoining headquarters building, garden, and visitor program.
Sources
The Wadsworth-Longfellow House's haunted reputation has two layers. The first is literary: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1852 poem 'Haunted Houses' opens 'All houses wherein men have lived and died / are haunted houses.' That line is the founding text of the Maine Historical Society's seasonal 'Longfellow's Haunted House' candlelit tour, now in its 10th year.
The second layer is the staff and tour-guide reports. The Portland Press Herald and Bangor Daily News both quote Maine Historical Society guides saying they hold some belief that the house is truly haunted, and that the unexplained footsteps and presence reported in the empty building are most often attributed to Anne Longfellow Pierce — Henry's sister, the young widow who lived in the house alone for decades and was responsible for preserving its interiors exactly as the family used them.
The seasonal tour does not lean on jump scares; it is structured around Longfellow's verse and first-person accounts of family members who lived and died in the building. The Bangor Daily News framed its 2024 feature as a sincere question — is the Wadsworth-Longfellow House haunted? — and concluded that the Maine Historical Society treats the reports as part of the family's continuing story.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Docent-led tour through the 1786 brick Federal house where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow grew up. Maine Historical Society guides interpret furnishings preserved by Anne Longfellow Pierce until her death in 1901, when the house passed to the Society.
Seasonal October program now in its 10th year. Candlelit walkthrough framed by Longfellow's 1852 poem 'Haunted Houses' and the stories of those who lived and died in the building, including Anne Longfellow Pierce.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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