On this day in 1762 — 260 years ago — an innkeeper named Samuel Fraunces bought a brick house near the southern tip of Manhattan. He opened the Queen’s Head tavern there. The inn is still open.
But nowadays it is known as Fraunces Tavern, former headquarters of George Washington and one of the city’s preeminent landmarks. Over the centuries, the tavern endured fires, periodic closings and two bombings — one by the British in 1775 and one by Puerto Rican nationalists 200 years later.
Little of the original 1719 structure remains, following a 1907 reconstruction, but a few fragments can still be seen.
The tavern, at 54 Pearl Street, also houses a historical museum whose relics include a piece of one of Washington’s teeth.
Thanks New York Times!