Haunted Georgetown

3. Union Hotel and Tavern

Washington, DC

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Standing on M Street at the corner with 30th Street, you are in the heart of Georgetown'?s more than two-century old commercial district, which predates Washington, D.C. itself. On the northeast corner, where now stands a single-story brick building housing a bank branch, was once the site of the old Union Hotel and Tavern building, which once hosted George Washington and John Quincy Addams. Before the construction of the White House, the Union was in strong contention for the area's finest accommodations. During the Civil War, the Hotel was commandeered by the government for use as a hospital. While working here as a nurse, Little Women author Louisa May Alcott wrote: "Long trains of army wagons kept up a perpetual rumble from morning until night. Ambulances rattled to and fro with busy surgeons, nurses taking an airing or convalescents going in parties to be fitted for artificial limbs. Strings of sorry looking horses passed, saying as plainly as dumb creatures could, 'why in a city full of them is there no hospital for us?' Often a cart came by, with several rough coffins in it and no mourners following; barouches, with invalid officers, rolled round the corner and carriage loads of pretty children, with black coachmen, footmen and maids."