Cornwallis over here to america, to the colonies, to support the war effort. Another one of captain tates sons, the youngest named robert, lexington and fought on the american side. There was a dynamic within the family. I am sure that captain tate at the time had to trade neutral ground. Ead neutral ground. He lived here until he died at the age of 94. He never left and stayed here is a citizen. Family, captain tate, lived here until 1794 when he passed away. He lost his wife in 1770. She was killed. She had gone to their storehouse where they kept food stuffs. It was boobytrapped. The reason it was is because provisions were missing from the storehouse. So, the son william had set up a boobytrap. Everyone in the family supposedly new. Supposedly forgotten. She had asked the servant betty to go out and grab some things out of the storehouse. Mary went out so herself and open the door. There was a musket ready to fire when the door was opened. It did, and she was tragically killed. The booby trap was set up by william, one of their sons. ,e was tried two years later convicted, but a year after that was pardoned by the king. Heer his mother died, continued to stay in the area and eventually took over the house after his father died, also took over the family business. In 1803, william lost the house to creditors. He had to turn it over to the massachusetts, in boston. He probably lost it because his bit. Was drying up a there was the impending embargo so the eastern seaboard was being shut down to trade. I believe he was a victim of that. The house was turned over to creditors. From that point on was sold to what became 3 absentee owners over the next 130 years. The house was not changed very much. There was the third owner did put a wall up dividing the kitchen and the house in half, therefore it became a twofamily dwelling, but there was never any plumbing or electricity put in. By neglect, the house was preserved. Dames inthe colonial the state of maine bar at the house. They took it over with the idea of being able bought the house. They took it over with the idea of making it a location where visitors can enjoy the sites within the house. This room was used primarily by george and mary tate for their dinner. They would have had their separate, dinner their suppe delivered from next door. Only george and mary would have been eating in here. The children and the servants would have eaten in the kitchen area. They would have had dinner possibly by fire and candlelight. Candles were made out of callow or beeswax. They were very expensive. Also the fact that mice would the liked them for food, candles would have been locked up after used in a container on the wall. In terms of fireplaces, there are 8 in the house. Among them all, it would have taken 30 to 40 quarts of what to year for heat and cooking support the house. Above the fireplace you can see beautiful paneling. All of the paneling in the room is original. And the paint in the paneling are, we know, pretty close to the colors they had then because of the paint analysis. This board is very huge. It is lying horizontal. That is one board. You can see the size of the tree that came from was a very large tree. Are a few pieces in the house that we believe our original. The house was lost to receivership in 1803. Everything was liquidated in the house. This piece is called the standish. You might note it might be used as a pen and ink set. Tuckedfound wrapped up into a corner in the cellar where no one could see it and was discovered after the house was purchased. They would have used it for correspondence. There are candles there for lighting when they were writing. Because the ink took a long time to drive back then, there is powder on the left to dry that. From theng room sitting room we are going into the kitchen, which is the largest room in the house. Of the the entire width back of the house. The kitchen was an important part of the house, basically the Central Operations of the house. This is where the food was prepared, where food would have been preserved, and where a lot of supplies were to feed the family. The fireplace is original. The bricks that you see back here where there from 1755. In the fireplace you can see a beehive oven they used for baking. They would have covered it over heatthis little door and this area until it is whitehot. They would have had to clean out. He ashes in winter the baking goods, starting with the items that took the longest. Baking goods, starting with the items that took the longest in the back. Shorter taking items would have been brought to the front. This is a crane. That we brought in. It is period, but we brought it into the house in later years. The cluck jack is to turn the spit. They would have had meat turning around. It goes for about 20 minutes. Going to the second floor of the house, you notice that the staircases steep. We have a chimney right behind it. This house is very large. Staircase inut the front of it and made it very steep for that reason. Are entering the parlor chamber. That was a word used for bedroom back then. The fact that it is above the parlor downstairs is why it is called the parlor chamber. This would have been used by captain tate and his wife for sleeping. Mary would have entertained her friends in here. Captain tate had his room on the other side of the house on this for. Mary would have entertained her friends, or she and captain tate would have had their tea at bedtime. There are no closets here. They typically didnt have them. Honestly, they didnt have a lot of clothing. They might have used the same clothing from day to day. There is a cubbard a. Upboard for linens they would have stored the clothing they had in a bureau or a chest. The bed that they slept in would have been custom made and is somewhat short. That is because back then the custom of the day was to sleep propped up. That was the belief of the day for better sleep and health reasons. Mattresses were made out of straw or goose down. The coverings you see over the that camee design from the day. We found some fabric in the house and were able to produce it into this particular design. This room leads into a backhaul. Back hall. There is a staircase that goods into the back hall from the kitchen. There is a staircase that goes on to the third floor. There are three rooms on the word floor. To the left into the back part of this part of the house, you would go into the childrens room where they slept. And the guest quarters, a room about the same size as this. This house is the only house left in america that was built, and survived, by a mast agent. It is in tact, very well due to and has as i mentioned, been preserved very well. It is a great place to view, look, and see how things were n. Ilt back the you can see the rich paneling along the wall. How it was put together. You can see the foundation, how that was put together. It is pretty fascinating if you are interested in old homes and you want to see something in great detail. This would be a great spot for people to visit. Citys tour staff traveled to portland, maine to learn about its history. Learn about portland and other stops at cspan. Org citiestour. You are watching American History tv, 48hours of programming every weekend on cspan3. Follow us on twitter information on our schedule and keep up with the latest history news. In, it is arst went long story, but i was barely able to get back to thei surface. A bunch of them jumped in and there is a picture, that im sure you will show, of them pulling me out of the lake. My arm is broken. When they pulled me out, they werent very happy to see me. [laughter] why not . Because i had just finished bombing the place. They got pretty rough. They hurt my shoulder, hurt my knee again. I dont blame them. We were in a war. I didnt like it, but at the when you are in a war and you are captured by the cant expect to have tea. John mccain talks about the hisct of the vietnam war on life and the country at 6 00 and 10 00 p. M. On cspan3. For gorgeous is in casco bay a mile from portland. 150as been abandoned for years. American history tv will hear about a group trying to save this historic landmark. Today, we are in casco bay, one mile off the mainland shore portland, maine on Hog Island Ledge where they built fort to defendn 1858 portland harbor. It was completed in 1865 and built with 2 sister for its to the south. They were designed to work in conjunction with each other to defend the harbor. Aeryone thinks for or just is civil war fort when it was funded long before the civil war. It was approved by congress and was funded as a response to the war of 1812. Gorgeous is a handmade granite fort. If you look at it from a top view, you would see a gigantic d. Middle and hashe a wonderful Parade Ground. People that have grown up here are their entire lives and have never been here think it is a solid structure. The design was probably modeled after a lot of forts. That would be built at the time. Like fort sumter. This was made out of granite. They moved it around and and built this structure by hand. It is amazing. 4610els designed to hold s, one sallygun and where troops could come go. There was one massive gate and a secondary gate. You would see the rooms to the north were officers quarters and to the south side were utility rooms. The vegetation that you see was never designed to be here. It was put here to absorb cannon fire, and year after year grass began to sprout. Photos from as recently as 50 years ago there is just grass. 25 years ago, bushes. Foot maple trees behind me. Here we are the second floor in the southeast side. If you look up, you will see the we are finding in this area. They only exist in this one area of the fort. This is partially because of the dirt up top and a lack of drainage. ,nd probably after 150 years settling in the inner and outer walls. On the floor, you can see the outlines of where a metal track would have been mounted. The rear end of a large cannon carriage would have rolled. Of p or by the window, you can see an opening appear by the window, you can see an opening where the front of the carriage, a tongue would stick into this groove. You can see where a pen would drop in. That enormous carriage would allow the cannon to swing back and forth and cover a broad range. The opening where the cannonball flew through in the windows remained shut at all times. There were big iron shutters with springs. The force of the explosion of the cannonball would open the shutters and they would immediately slam shut. Here you will see a flu. All of the cannon fire, black powder, the amount of smoke it would generate, each one of these chase mates has its own flu so the smoke would exhaust the area. Here you will see some brackets where we suspect the soldiers stood on the cannon carriage and hung their tools. Here iniers also lived the casemate with their cannon. The, we are in one of chambers to the great magazine. Room away and you can see the massive floor timbers that burned out decades ago. Of this room, not , very big room, maybe 10 by 16 i always wondered what could have been so heavy that they needed floor joints that massive. It came to me one day, gunpowder and cannonballs. I think this is where they kept the cannonballs. If we walk this way, we will see where they kept the gunpowder. This is the great magazine. You can see it is a large room. It used to be 2 stories. The floor was removed at some point somehow. It either burned out or was taken out. With the large room earliest piece of concrete i have ever seen. Wheren see the old slats the individual boards were made. Blocks withranite shams stuck in the mortar to take up the space. This room does have some slots in the wall so that some air can circulate through here. You will also see 2 small openings in the brickwork. And onehe first floor on the second floor. Were from the little room on the other side called the candle room. In that opening, they would place a lantern. That lantern was the only means of illumination for this are for obvious reasons. Soldiers would have to put wool or silk socks over their boots to work in here. Garrisoned was for 500 troops. It was never fully garrisoned or fired a single shot. I suspect it was obsolete by the time it was finished. Abandoned, then caretakers came along, lived in. T, and watched over it during world war ii they built the concrete pad in the Parade Ground. That was used to store what they called torpedoes, we now call them mines. That was used in casco bay because uboats came in to casco bay and all along the eastern seaboard. They were manufactured on Great Diamond island. There are wonderful Old Buildings in place for you can see where the mines were manufactured and tested. There is a Narrow Gauge Railway where they would bring them down to the water, then over here to store them. It was put on the national register. In 1971 the city of portland acquired the property. Since then, it has remained neglected. Recently, the city has taken a interest in the process. Now we have the army corps of engineers making it a safer place. Due to social media, everyone is curious about it and Everyone Wants to experience this thing. Is committed to seeing that this place doesnt fall apart. We know we can save the structure. Becomes about making it accessible to people so we can have a sustainable model to do the work that needs to be done. Then it is about stewardship. Making sure that this wonderful spot never falls into the hands of a condo development, casino, or something that would be clearly inappropriate for this space. There are lots of challenges. The immediate ones are access, because this is an island. Everyone needs to come here by boat. Luckily, it is only 1 mile from land. 2 3 of the 7000 people that come here in the summertime come by kayak. They do tours all day every day. Kayaking is the easiest way to get here because you are not downed by the tides and it is an easy paddle. We encourage people who do that to hire a guide or have some sort of experience. You can also come out with a boat. There hoping to put a dock in and make this more accessible to the general population. I have been coming here since i was a teenager. It is a mystical place. Especially when you start coming here as a child. We just dont build structures like this anymore. It is the only place like this that i know of in maine that is this accessible. 1 mile from shore, and you have this amazing structure we will never see again. It. Ave to save it is also special to me because for a long time i have wanted to see some kind of performance happen here. Shakespeare, or something along those lines. It is important for the people who live here and visit here for the reasons i mentioned before. Everyone is affected by this space. How could you not be when you step into the Parade Ground and see the casemate arches and the stonework . It is phenomenal. Mosthow could you not be when yu step into the Parade Ground and see the times peoples jaws drop when they see it. Our cities tour staff traveled to portland, maine to learn about its history. Learn more about portland and other stops at cspan. Org citiestour. Cspan, where history unfolds a daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies, and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Cspan is in portland, maine to learn more about its history. Next, we visit the childhood home of poet Henry Wadsworth longfellow. Often, i think of the beautiful town by the sea, and often in thought up and down the pleasant streets of that dear old town, and my youth comes back to me. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an american poet in the 19th century. He was when he was alive probably the most famous english in the world,r if not the most famous person in the world. He is best remembered for palms like evangeline, the childrens ems likepo evangeline, the childrens hour. He is very much a part of our lexicon and memory. He was born in 1807. Hes grew up he or. It is where he started writing. Even when he has an adult left portland, left the main, he came back all the time. In hisd it inspiring childhood home. It was inspiring to him and a source of his poetry. Housedsworth longfellow was always owned by the wadsworths and the longfellows. Henrys parents lived here from 1807 until their death. Person to live at the house was henrys sister, Anne Longfellow pierce. Upon her death, she left the house and everything in it to the main historical society. As far as how much as what is original to the house and the family, the figure that has been it is 94 . In other words, almost all of it. We have had to fill in some gaps, but almost everything you are looking at has a personal connection to the house and the people that lived here. This is the front hall of the wadsworthlongfellow house where the familys guests would have come in. They probably would have been taken right into the familys parlor. Ofs is the most formal room the house. It is where they kept their nicest things, their finest furniture. Ais, more often than not, was room for special occasions. Some somber occasions like funerals, but also happy occasions like weddings. Henrys parents were married in of henrysand 2 sisters also celebrated their weddings in this parlor. Own from a place of honor is an engraving of George Washington that we are told has been in that spot since 1802. Washington was a very popular 19thcenturyly america. It would not have been a huge surprise to find his like this in any american home. The wadsworths and the longfellows were proud they had a personal connection to the first president through henrys grandfather. The man who built this house was during the American Revolution and actually knew George Washington. The moment he is best remembered for during the war is his role in the exhibition in 1779. The massachusetts militia was anxious to get the british out of maine, out of what is now castine, maine. They said Ground Forces and naval forces to that area. Henrys grandfather was second in command to the Ground Forces. He was in charge of the charge of then artillery and that expedition was paul revere. It ended in a horrible defeat for the americans. It was the worst naval defeat in American History until pearl harbor. Paul revere was made something of a scapegoat for everything that went wrong. When it was all over, pay lake said paul revere had not obeyed in order he had given him. Paul revere was not remembered by a lot of men with him at the not very exhibition fondly. He was brought up on charges after it was over. Placed onor a while house arrest. He demanded a courtmartial clear his name. It did, but we are talking 1782 or 1783 and the American Revolution was coming to an end. Care very much anymore. His reputation was ruined and he fell into obscurity for generation. 1861, Henry Wadsworth longfellow on the eve of the civil war decides to write a poem in which he makes paul revere the star and makes him a hero. Recounting how he rode through the massachusetts countryside to warn his fellow patriots that forbritish were marching washington. The poem was probably henrys way of warning his fellow new that we are on the eu vote for again. A civil war is coming. Our grandparents were ready, we have to be ready when it comes again. Why he chose paul revere out of any of the other figures he might have chosen is not known. We dont think his grandfather every talks to henry talked to henry about paul revere. We dont know if you talk to him about the war at all. It is interesting to know that would have seen paul revere remembered in a very different way or his grandfather would have him remember. Henry showed interest in becoming a writer from his childhood. He published his first poem when he was 13 years old. After he graduated from Bowdoin College, he would have been 18 years old or 19 years old, he told his father he wanted to be a writer. I think he always knew that was his dream, his passion. This room was the familys room. Room and sitting a place when they were not Entertaining Company in the parlor they might gather to relax. Father, years henrys stephen longfellow, used this as his law office. And for a time practiced out of the house. He had a small waiting room added to the house for his clients to use. Could come in and out this entrance and wait for stephen here without interrupting the day of the rest of the family. We know that when henry was young, he liked to sit here and write. Maybe the spaces where he found privacy away from the prying eyes of Seven Brothers and sisters, his parents, and his aunt. Back here andeak do some writing. When he was 19 years old his father had moved the law office out of the house, and his mother turned this space into a china him feelingh had put out. He said in a letter to his sister that he hadnt been able since the roomg was turned into a china closet. His mother,ng about we can assume the statement is tongueincheek, but it shows how important this space was to. Enry, even as he grew up his poetry, his first big commercial success, is probably evangeline. It is his poem about the canadian expulsion out of canada and maritime by the british in the 1700s. That was followed by other big hits, if you well. The courtship of miles tandish, paul reveres ride, or the original title was tale. Ndlords they have a very romantic style. Ethics storytelling, if you will. All of the poems i just mentioned were all inspired by actual historical events, actual historical figures, that henry, for his own purposes, may have changed or adapted a little bit and taken license with to suit his needs or the expectations of his audience. Those are some of the ones he is best known for to this day. Poetry had and continues to have a real influence on how its origins ass a nation. To the left was the familys summer dining room. The house faces north. It is a little cooler for eating in the summertime. Referred to often as the rainy day room, because it is believed that in this room the wrote his poweem rainy day. It is not one of his best remembered, but people quote it all the time not realizing they ems. Quoting one of his powm stanzas. As three the first he describes what he can see out the window. Every time the wind slows the dead leaves fall from the trees. In the second stanza, he says that is how he feels. His life is dark and dreary and the hopes of his youth are falling like the leaves of the trees all around him. In the last stanza he strikes a more hopeful tone and says be still sad heart and stopper repining, behind the ining. Some sun is sh the phrase in every life a little rain must fall has made its way into our everyday lexicon. He had a lot of loss in his life. Within a year, his sister ellen died. She was 16 years old. , hisong after her passing brotherinlaw George Pierce died. They were classmates at Bowdoin College and good friends. That same year henry lost his first wife, mary, while they were traveling abroad. When he writes the rainy day it is probably his way of responding to that brief. We that grief. We know he would often stay in this bedroom. After he married his second wife, frances appleton, we know that they came here for a visit and stayed in this room. Still on the table is henrys traveling writing desk. It is like a precursor to the laptop. It is hinged in the middle and folds into a box so you can transport it easily. We know that henry wrote part of on this evangeline writing desk. It is a tangible reminder of the work he did and of how famous and well traveled he was. His fame as a writer took him all over the world, and he found inspiration all over the world. It was important for him to have the tools that he needed so he could always be writing and creating. After he left maine, he would come back typically once a year to visit. He wouldnt really become wellknown as a writer until the after the50s civil war he would have been more physically recognizable with the advent of photography. We know at his home in cambridge, massachusetts whenever he left the house to talk furs would come out of their studios, can we take your picture . By all accounts, he was a very nice man so he would oblige. There are lots of photographs that exist of henry longfellow. Coming back in his middleage and his final years, he would have been a very recognizable figure. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow died in 1882. His sister anne would be living in this house another 15 years. She probably imagined not too long after henrys death that this might be a place for the public to come and see. When she made that decision in the years before she died, she literally said, it is the right. Thing to do it would be right to leave it for the public to enjoy. Our cities tour staff recently traveled to portland, maine to learn about its rich history. Learn more about portland and other stops at cspan. Org citiestour. You are watching American History tv, every weekend, all weekend, on cspan3. We now return to our live coverage of the pamplin historical parks civil war symposium in petersburg, virginia. [overlapping conversations]