John Adams was inaugurated as second president on March 4, 1797. Washington had preceded him to the hall and sat on the dais with Jefferson the Vice-President-elect, as Adams spoke. When the new President finished and left, Washington motioned to Jefferson to go next. The two Virginians had known each other since 1769, when Washington had been thirty-seven years old and Jefferson only twenty-six. From long habit and lingering respect, Jefferson now held back. But Washington gestured again, in a manner not to be ignored. The younger man was now Vice-President and must go first.
| Place | City | |
|---|---|---|
| Nathan Hale Homestead | Coventry | Built in 1776 and restored. |
| Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park | Groton | The site of the Battle of Groton Heights (1781). |
| Yale University Art Gallery | New Haven | Home to one of the finest collections of early American art anywhere, it was founded in 1832 when John Trumbull gave more than one hundred of his portraits and historical paintings to Yale. Renovation and expansion completed in 2012. |
| Nathan Hale Schoolhouse | New London | The schoolhouse where Nathan Hale taught. |
| Shaw Mansion | New London | Built by Nathaniel Shaw; used by both Washington and Lafayette during the war. |
| General William Hart House | Old Saybrook | Built in 1767 and restored to its original condition, it is Old Saybrook Historical Society’s museum and headquarters. |
| Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum | Wethersfield | Three separate homes comprising a single museum, including the homes of Silas Deane, a member of the Continental Congress, and Joseph Webb; Washington and Rochambeau met there to lay out strategy. |
Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington (1996)