The Wadsworth-Longfellow House was built by Revolutionary War General Peleg Wadsworth between 1785 and 1786. It was the first wholly brick dwelling in Portland and is the oldest standing structure on the Portland peninsula.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in 1807 at his aunt's house nearby. He moved into this house at eight months old and spent the next 35 years there. The Longfellows added the third story in 1815.
Anne Longfellow Pierce, the last family member to live in the house, kept it much as it was. When she died in 1901, her will gave it to the Maine Historical Society, which opened it to the public the next year.