Tag: Fraunces Tavern

Hamilton and Burr Together One Week Before the Duel

January 9, 2020 Tags: , , ,
Hamilton Walking Tour NYC

On July 4, 1804, one week before the infamous duel, the rivals Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, were together at Fraunces Tavern at an event sponsored by the Society of the Cincinnati, whose members were American and French veterans of the Revolutionary War. Fraunces Tavern is one of the stops on the “Hamilton & Washington In New York” Walking Tour.

While the challenge had been established, the date for their encounter at dueling ground in Weehawken was still days away. The artist John Trumball was at Fraunces Tavern and noticed their unusual moods. He reflected on his observations years later in his published autobiography:

“On the 4th of July, I dined with the society of the Cincinnati, my old military comrades, and then met, among others, Gen. Hamilton and Col. Burr. The singularity of their manner was observed by all, but few had any suspicion of the cause. Burr, contrary to his wont, was silent, gloomy, sour; while Hamilton entered with glee into all the gaiety of a convivial party, and even sung an old military song. A few days only passed, when the wonder was solved by that unhappy event which deprived the United States of two of their most distinguished citizens. Hamilton was killed–and Burr was first expatriated, and then sunk into obscurity for life, in consequence of their compliance with a senseless custom, which ought not to have outlived the dark ages in which it had its origin.”

Fraunces Tavern’s Origins

May 9, 2019 Tags: , , ,
Best Washington Walking Tour NYC

On the Hamilton & Washington in New York City walking tour, we see the famous Fraunces Tavern at 54 Pearl Street, a location that is very important to the history of the United States. The tavern, which you can visit today both as a tavern and museum, was originally built on a water lot (that was landfilled) as a brick house for Stephen De Lancey. Samuel Fraunces would acquire it in 1762 and opened the Queen’s Head Tavern and subsequently Fraunces Tavern. Washington bid his officers an emotional farewell at the tavern on December 4, 1783. The image shows the building on the corner of Pearl and Broad Streets around 1905.



The Real Washington!

May 17, 2017 Tags:
Hamilton & Washington Walking Tour New York City

Who is the real George Washington?  What did he look like?  Here is a contemporary bust of the man himself taken from life by French portrait sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon in 1786 at Mount Vernon (in-between the end of the Revolutionary War and his first inauguration in New York).  Houdon and three assistants spent three weeks in Virginia creating the mold of Washington’s face.  The photograph is of a 19th Century Terra Cotta copy of the bust that you can see at Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City, one of the buildings that we see on the Washington & Hamilton in New York City tour!