“The First Commander Remembered” Panel in Cambridge, 2 Dec.

On Tuesday, 2 December, I’ll take part in a panel discussion on “The First Commander Remembered: Washington’s Legacy in Cambridge.”

This is the second in a series of Sestercentennial events on “Washington in American Memory” to be held at the Cambridge Public Library through April 2026.

The panel will include:

• Charles Sullivan, executive director of the Cambridge Historical Commission and coauthor of Building Old Cambridge: Architecture and Development.
• Christopher Beagan, site manager at the Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, moderator.
• me, drawing from a study of the commander-in-chief’s months in Cambridge in 1775–76 and any thoughts that have occurred to me since. 

We’ll talk about how Gen. Washington came to Cambridge, how authors have portrayed his time there, and how he’s been commemorated in Cambridge by, among other things, a tree, a park, a monumental gate, a hotel (shown above), and a National Park Service site. What do all those landmarks tell us about how we like to think of Washington? And could we remember and teach that period of history more accurately?

This event is scheduled from 6 to 7:30 P.M. in the Cambridge Public Library’s Lecture Hall. It will also be livestreamed and recorded for online viewing.

This program and all the series will be free and open to the public. Follow this link to register.

The main supporter of this series is Eastern National, a nonprofit partner of the National Park Service. It has been organized by the National Park Service/Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, History Cambridge, Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge Historical Commission, and Cambridge MA250.