It was an ordinary day. February 19 and I realized I had forgotten to write my story about President's Day. Opened my blog site and began to write about something I had read about a month or so ago on the "Lancastrian" Facebook page; little online story titled "Mr. Washington Goes to Lancaster."
 |
| President George Washington |
It told me that if I were to "Google" Presidents' Day, I couldn't find it. Didn't even try, since the next sentence told me that the holiday is technically known as Washington's Birthday and occurs on the third Monday of February. Wasn't always that way, since before 1752, Washington's Birthday was February 11. Naturally, I wondered why. Seems that in 1752, Great Britain adopted the new, improved calendar instituted by Pope Gregory the 13th late in the 16th century. This Gregorian calendar fixed the length of the solar year at 365 days with an additional day added every four years which we now call our "Leap Year." Before that time the Gregorian calendar, from the old Julian calendar (named after Julius Caesar), had become out of whack, relative to the sun's and earth's cycles by ten whole days. In 1752 the calendar was off by eleven days so those days were just dropped at the end of the year. I guess you stayed the same age if you happened to be born on one of this eleven days. Anyway, seems that Washington's birthday that year went from February 11 to February 22. Now, this seems all well and good, but...it was never explained in the article why it was celebrated on the 15th this year. Anyway, as years passed, it was an occasion marked with speeches and receptions. In 1971 it had been added to the roster of federal holidays. To many of you, 1971 seems like ages ago, but to me, it seems like just yesterday. Now, being that the story I read was in the "Lancastrian" Facebook page, I read next that our county's first President was no stranger to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was said to have made trips to Lancaster on five different occasions. The first time he arrived in Lancaster was on June 4, 1773 when he had breakfast at "The Sign Of The Bull" on North Queen Street in downtown Lancaster. He also made a stop at the Demuth Tobacco Shop on East King Street to purchase tobacco.  |
| Recent photograph of the Demuth Tobacco Shop in Lancaster |
While there he had a chance to meet the proprietor, Johannes Demuth. That evening he traveled 19 miles to the Susquehanna River where he stayed at Wrights Ferry. In 1791 he came to Lancaster on Sunday, July 3. By this date he happened to President of the United States and was making an effort to tour the southern and eastern states. Before traveling to Lancaster, he passed York, PA which is to the west of Lancaster. While in Lancaster he made a visit with General Edward Hand, an old friend and military aide. They first met along the Susquehanna river at Wrights Ferry and Hand escorted him to Abbeville which is on the outskirts of Lancaster. Ringing church bells and cheering crowds waving flags and firing cannons greeted him at Abbeville. It was said that Washington hated these greetings since it slowed him down while visiting different locations. That evening Washington spent the night at the White Swan Hotel on North Queen Street near Penn Square.  |
| The White Swan Hotel in Lancaster, Pennsylvania by Charles X. Carlson |
The following day he walked the streets of Lancaster and had an elaborate dinner at Lancaster's Court House where 15 toasts were made. How he was able to have tea with General Hand and his wife that afternoon at Rockford after all those toasts is a mystery to me. He did stay the evening with the Hand's and headed headed back to Philadelphia the following day.  |
| Rockford, home of Edward Hand |
Then on November 14, 1793, Washington made a stop at Lancaster while traveling from Quittapahilla Creek in Lebanon County to Germantown. I can't determine if he stopped for the evening or not, but he also made stops that day at Womelsdorf and Reading, both in Pennsylvania. A stop on October 26, 1794 saw him returning to Lancaster after a troop inspection during the "Whiskey Rebellion." It was a month earlier that he became the only sitting U.S. President to personally lead troops into battle. He met the 13,000 troops gathered at Caarlisle, Pennsylvania taking them on a nearly month-long march west over the Allegheny Mountains to the town of Bedford to end the "Whiskey Rebellion." It is thought that he might have stayed at the Grape Hotel in downtown Lancaster during that time.  |
| The Grape Hotel, a pen and ink drawing by Charles X. Carlson. |
George Washington's final visit to Lancaster came on September 20, 1796 when he spent the night with friends on his way from Philadelphia to Mount Vernon. Lancaster's newspaper, "The Journal" wrote that: "The President of the United States arrived here on Tuesday afternoon, last September 20, and on Wednesday morning at 6 o'clock proceeded on his way to Mount Vernon." The last part of the "Lancastrian" story I read told that he and Martha were childless which allowed him to be the father of the nation. The country had just ridded themselves from a monarch, so when the idea of a President was brought forth, there were immediate concerns the states were potentially getting a new one. But, since Washington had no son or daughter, it put most of those concerns aside. Not sure how many other people can claim that the first President of the United States made five stops in their city, but I'm proud to say that of my town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
No comments:
Post a Comment