George Washington slept here

The saying 'George Washington slept here' has long morphed into a cliché. Tourism officials and realtors use it to lure visitors to their sometimes out-of-the-way venues. Writers have both praised and lampooned it. Warner Brothers turned it into a comedy film in 1942.

I did something else. I followed the slogan to several online resources that explore the subject at length. Then I used a few of General Washington's favorite haunts in The Winding Road, my latest work in progress and the second book in the Stone Shed trilogy.

One of the most important was the Isaac Potts house, Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Built in the 1750s, the three-story structure was a palace compared to the wooden huts that housed most of the Continental Army in the winter of 1778.

Another site, an overnighter, was Beers Tavern, the best place to eat, drink, and sleep in New Haven, Connecticut, in the 1770s. Washington stayed at the roadhouse on June 28, 1775, while traveling from Philadelphia to Boston. Two major characters in my book will stay there in October 1778. They will experience some of the magic Washington left behind for nearly ten years as he waged war on the British.

Philadelphia's City Tavern, where the general stretched his legs for several days in 1777, will again take a star turn. It was a significant venue in The Patriots, the first book in the Stone Shed series.

The Founding Father moved nearly 300 times between July 2, 1775, and December 4, 1783, when he bid farewell to his officers at the end of the war. He moved a lot because he had to. Unlike British generals William Howe and Henry Clinton, who turned Philadelphia and New York City into vacation rentals, he had to secure resources, maintain communications, and stay one step ahead of an enemy that wanted to put a noose around his neck. Like the people who signed the Declaration of Independence, the general was a wanted man.

Washington will play a small but important role in The Winding Road. Though he will mostly remain in the background, as a larger-than-life figure, he will on occasion inject himself into the affairs of Noah Maclean, his aide-de-camp and my novel's chief protagonist.

As readers follow Noah, they will also follow Washington, his staff, his army, and the places they called home between November 1777 and August 1779, The Winding Road's chronological bookends.

I know I followed him. When consulting Wikipedia's detailed, illustrated compendium of Washington's headquarters, I learned a lot about the general, his digs, and his interesting times. I used the comprehensive resource as a starting point, a springboard for further discovery.

As I noted here on Saturday, I have finished the first draft of The Winding Road. I hope to publish the completed novel by May 31.

Photos: Top: The Isaac Potts House, where George Washington lived at Valley Forge from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778. Bottom: City Tavern, part of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. Both images are courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.