What We Do

With generous support from the Friends of Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters, Inc., the National Park Service proudly announces the completion of a suite of museum collection conservation projects in the Longfellow House study. This historic room is the heart of the Longfellow House; it served as General George Washington's meeting/dining room in the early days of the American Revolution and later as poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s creative workspace, where he penned many of his best-known works.

A prolific poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow often wrote about the natural world. His nature poetry, although abundant, is often overlooked in favor of his national narrative epics like "Paul Revere's Ride" and "Song of Hiawatha." This series sheds light on Longfellow's nature poetry, contextualizing his work through his academic, social, art, and literary influences.

Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site consists of 13.19-acres of land and is situated within Las Trampas Hills at 700 feet above sea level on the western edge of the city of Danville, California. Within the historic site, buildings, roads, several small orchards, and ornamental vegetation were developed between the years 1880 and 1944, and characterize the property as a small working ranch.

The John Muir National Historic Site consists of the remaining 336 acres of the Strentzel-Muir fruit ranch and is comprised of the Muir House, Gravesite, and Mt. Wanda, located near Martinez, CA. The landscape is significant for its association with John Muir, its connection to the Conservation Movement, and the Victorian Italianate architecture of the main house. The fertile soil and climate of the Alhambra Valley supported agricultural pursuits during the historic period.

The additions of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum and the National Willa Cather Center make two Midwest National Historic Landmarks more dynamic.

Just like the United States of America had its founding fathers, so too did the American conservation movement. George Perkins Marsh, famed scholar and naturalist, is among these founding fathers. Known to many as the father of the environmental movement, Marsh was a lifelong scholar and lover of knowledge who used his knowledge for the benefit of the natural world.