Our town just celebrated it’s 350th anniversary, which means we have a lot of history here. One of our claims to fame is that George Washington slept here on the way to his inauguration in New York in 1789.
He stayed at the Cross Keys Tavern and there is a historical marker to commemorate the event. The building is no longer in its original location, having been moved about a block away some number of years ago. It is no longer a tavern. It currently sits behind a 7-11 in a residential neighborhood and has been converted to apartments.
The history in our town is one of the reasons I decided to use it as a setting for The Rum Runner. Although I don’t know that any rum running activity happened here, it certainly could have. And it also opens the possibility to setting other stories here as well. After all, with 350 years of history there is a lot to draw from!