City of Washington at that time were few and far between. Witness
General Washington's letter on the 17th of May, 1795, to Alexander
White, one of the Commissioners: "I shall intimate that a residence in
the City if a house is to be had, will be more promotive of its welfare
than your abode in George Town." He was nursing along his namesake in
every possible way. On February 8, 1798, he notes in his diary: "Visited
Public Buildings in the morning." The day before, the 7th, he speaks of
going to a meeting of the Potomac Company, dining with Colonel
Fitzgerald, and lodging with Thomas Peter at Number 2618 K Street. This
was only natural, as Mrs. Peter was, of course, his step-granddaughter.
On that same trip he met the Commissioners again, this time at Union
Tavern, and dined there. On August 5th his diary says: "Went to George
Town to a general meeting of the Potomac Company. Dined at the Union
Tavern and lodged at Mr. Law's." Thomas Law, an Englishman, had married
Eliza Custis, Mrs. Washington's eldest grandchild, and had a home on
Capitol Hill.

On August 11th he again spent the night at Thomas Peter's home, and that
was the last night he ever spent in the city named in his honor. He was
never to live to see the government established in the city over which
he had worked so hard, and in which he had such absolute implicit faith.

"A century hence," he wrote, "if this country keeps united, it will
produce a city, though not so large as London, yet of a magnitude
inferior to few other in Europe."

Chapter VI

_Below Bridge Street_

Nearly all of the business, and most of the social life, up until 1800
took place below Bridge (M) Street. The island in the river below George
Town, which was called, variously, Analostan, Mason's Island, My Lord's
Island, and Barbadoes, was almost a part of George Town in those days.
It belonged to the great plantation of George Mason, of Gunston, the
brilliant statesman and author of the Bill of Rights.

His son, General Mason, had there an estate where he entertained in fine
style. Louis Philippe of France, while a visitor in George Town, was
feted there and said he had never seen a more elegant entertainment.
Twenty-three kinds of fish were caught in the river in those days,
besides terrapin and snapping turtles, so perhaps they helped to
embellish the occasion.

The island was rich in forest trees, foliage, flowering and aromatic
shrubs, orchards of cherry, apple, and pe