Maine Historical Society and the Wadsworth-Longfellow House — Attraction in Portland

We visited both the Maine Historical Society Museum as well as the Wadsworth-Longfellow house. Definitely enjoyed the house more. The museum was ok but the current exhibits were on music and botanical life in Maine. Was expecting more on Henry W-L himself. My kids were bored by the museum.

The house we did a self-guided tour of, using the app. I found the app to be pretty cool and informative. Allowed us to go at our own pace, which was nice, especially with kids. There was a tour guide posted on the 2nd floor who was able to provide even more tidbits and facts that enhanced the experience. Also, there are signs placed about in each room that ask people not to touch or sit on things, but done in a hilarious way. We got a kick out of those and enjoyed hunting for them in each room.

Don't miss out on the Longfellow garden in the back! It is beautiful and well cared for!

The only negative was with the initial man who welcomed us at the house. Our group had been sent over ahead of him and so the doors were locked and there were people from the previous tour inside. When the docent caught up to us, he was upset that someone has sent us over without him, and made no effort to hide his irritation. As the people from the previous tour were leaving, he kept sighing and saying "This is ridiculous. This shouldn't be happening. You all should be out of there by now!" He also swore a few times, at one point loudly throwing out the "F" word. I understand he was annoyed that things didn't go as planned but he handled it poorly. It made us all on edge, feeling unwelcome, and afraid to ask him...

This museum used to be a gem for Portland, but now it is not so much. In years gone by I visited this museum with students every year as part of a poetry unit. The docent were always informative and added so much humanity to the tour. I was excited to return for my history teacher husband's first tour. Our first disappointment was the abysmal virtual tour guide with limited information, even if you hit "learn more". Personal stories about the child Longfellow were lost in the monotonous tone of the phone. But perhaps the most off putting was the unwelcoming tone of the docent downstairs as she ran down the rules in her introduction...one felt she barely knew a thing about the Longfellows at all. Just not her job, she was there to share the rules. As if you could miss them...all over the house they have set up threatening notes about touching stuff. Supposedly they were funny, but they missed the mark by a lot. Will most likely never return again. Luckily, I have wonderful memories of past tours by docents full of wonderful stories who made Longfellow come alive for both me and my students. If I thought this was a worker problem it would be understandable but there were two people working the cash register and two docent inside with only 4 visitors...

Adjacent to the Maine Historical Society building, the Longfellow house is accessible only via an hour-long guided tour. Admission to the tour is $10 with a AAA discount, which also grants you access to a small civil war museum with highlights on Maine's involvement in the war.

Our tour guide was Terri, who was clearly well-versed (pun intended) on Wadsworth Longfellow's poetry, slinging a few rhymes throughout our tour. She always had a smile on her face and was genuinely interested in the history of the house and of the surrounding area. Maybe not a "must-do" but it's certainly a destination that's unique to Portland, and a great way to toss in some history amongst a day of shopping and dining around...