Henry Wadsworth Longfellow enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime and continues to influence our cultural and historical perceptions. He and his immediate and extended family and friends played a central role in the intellectual and artistic life of nineteenth century America and are credited with shaping a distinctly American identity and culture. Longfellow House was a favorite gathering place for many prominent philosophers and artists including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Julia Ward Howe, and Charles Sumner.