The President's House Site 1790-1800

From 1790 to 1800, President George Washington and President John Adams lived and worked in the elegant three-story brick mansion rented from financier Robert Morris that stood on this site, which Washington called "the best single house in the city." Washington's large household included enslaved African descendants, while Adams maintained a small household and never owned slaves. In the 1790s, the President's house mirrored the young republic's ideals and contradictions, standing near Independence Hall, where "All men are created equal" and "We the People" were adopted even though those words did not apply to all people in the new United States of America. Records show that Washington and his family slept over the kitchen, while his servants, including enslaved African descendants, slept in the former smokehouse and throughout the property. Hercules, Washington's enslaved cook and one of the best chefs in America, worked in the kitchen and in 1797 successfully seized his freedom. With help from Philadelphia's large free African community, Oney Judge, Martha Washington's enslaved servant, also escaped to freedom from this house.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States