Making History
WASHINGTON – The Willard Hotel is best described as “fancy pants”. According to a plaque on the Pennsylvania Avenue facade of the building, the hotel’s many distinguished guests have included United States presidents Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, Grant, Harding, and Coolidge. Julia Ward Howe wrote the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” at the Willard. Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and Emily Dickinson were guests, too. In 1963, while staying at the Willard, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote the speech he would deliver on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March for Jobs and Freedom.
Today, the Willard Hotel becomes even more historic: Mrs. Dana John Hill and I are spending our fifth wedding anniversary here.
Our room is splendid.
Filed under: Dana Heritage Project, History, Travel on May 28th, 2010
way cool. happy anniversary to you and Mrs.Hill. steal an ashtray.