8 Hotels Where You Can Sleep in the Shadow of Presidents

Grab a cab, or drive the six miles from Washington’s farm over to National Harbor and stay at the Gaylord National Resort. Once at the hotel, take a quick half-mile walk toward the waterfront. There you can ride “The Capital Wheel,” a Ferris wheel situated on the banks of the Potomac River.

There’s no better hub than the Graduate Hotel Charlottesville for exploring Jefferson’s Monticello, the University of Virginia, and the 33 local Charlottesville wineries on the Monticello wine trail. Grab a couple of the hotel’s complimentary bikes and explore the idyllic college town of Charlottesville. With a wealth of student populated bars and restaurants in the downtown area, you are sure to find a drink or a meal to please the pickiest of palettes. Bodo’s Bagels is a favorite breakfast and lunch spot for students and alumni. In the evening? Phone in an order of college memories when you scarf down pizza or cheesy bread delivered to the hotel late night from the College Inn.

Don’t miss the campus of UVA. With its covered brick walkways, expansive, lush green lawns, and the white-capped Rotunda which Jefferson famously designed, the school has a quintessential, scholarly air about it. Luckily, the Graduate Hotel is just steps from two of the most visited attractions at UVA. Put a leash on Lucy (the Graduate is pet-friendly), and take her for a jog past the Rotunda, and onto “The Lawn,” the flat grassy quad at the heart of campus.

Consider touring a few of the nearby wineries while you’re in town as well. Blenheim Vineyards is owned by guitarist and frontman, Dave Matthews. (Not a president, but he’d probably poll better than some.)

Not an oenophile? No problem. Hang at the hotel for the night. The rooftop Camp Ten Four bar is frequented by many a local as well as hotel guests. Order a “Wahoo Water.” Though the official UVA mascot is a Cavalier, they are affectionately known by the students as Wahoos. The namesake cocktail is a boozy Capri-Sun-esque concoction made with coconut rum, blue curaçao, pineapple, and lime.

Try the posh Omni Parker House, the birthplace of “Boston Cream Pie.” This Boston hotel opened in 1855 and today, lays claim to being the longest continuously operated hotel in the entire country. At least four U.S. presidents, as well as Thoreau, Emerson, Babe Ruth, and Malcolm X, have graced the halls of the Parker House.

Just steps off the 2.5-mile Freedom Trail, the Omni Parker House is also within blocks of the city’s luxuriant public park (with its own skating rink in the winter and splash park in the summer), the Boston Common. A quick walk (albeit a bit uphill) will take you to the Massachusetts State House, Boston Massacre site, Faneuil Hall, and the Boston Public Market. Or hang a left on Tremont St as you exit the hotel, and walk one block. You’ll find yourself at the Granary Burying Ground. Here you can see where patriots including John Hancock, Robert Paine, Samuel Adams, and Paul Revere have all been laid to rest.

Traveling with little ones? Upon check-in, pint-sized travelers in The Omni Kids Club program will receive a backpack complete with card games, binoculars, and coloring book. Even better? Milk and cookies will be delivered to the room on the first night of your stay.

The Anchor In Distinctive Waterfront Lodging is the only waterfront hotel on Hyannis Harbor, and a 10-minute walk will take you to the JFK Museum. After soaking in some of the mystique of Camelot, set sail as the Kennedys often did, and enjoy a whale watching trip. Later in the day, take a dip in the heated outdoor pool, or enjoy some sand and surf on one of the local Cape Cod beaches. But don’t lounge too long or you’ll miss the cookies and coffee served in the hotel lobby each afternoon.

Though not the closest hotel to the Hermitage plantation, you won’t be disappointed by taking the 16-mile trip into the center of Nashville to stay at The Hermitage Hotel. Named for Jackson’s plantation, and notable for its textbook example of the Beaux-Arts architecture style, this hotel opened in 1910. The Hermitage has been visited by many prominent figures, including eight former presidents (Taft, Wilson, Nixon, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton, and George W. Bush).

The rooms include a “pillow menu” where you can choose buckwheat, memory foam, or down. Housekeeping will attend to your room twice daily, and a nightly turndown service is included.

Be sure to grab a drink at the Oak Bar, which famously served bourbon in its teapots during Prohibition. And before you finish your cocktail (we recommend the HH Old Fashioned concocted with Belle Meade Tennessee Whiskey), be sure to take a peek into the men’s bathroom, one of the most photographed loos in the country.

A stunning example of the Art Deco style defined by bold colors and straight lines, the perimeter walls of the washroom are lined with leaded glass tiles in a striped pattern of black and emerald green. There is a two-seat shoeshine station inside where some poor chap spent his working hours. Even the toilets themselves are a minty green hue that was all the rage in the 1920s and 30s. This lavatory has been featured in several music videos and was even once named the nation’s “Restroom of the Year” (apparently that’s a thing).

After touring the home, be sure to take the short (about 10-minute) nature trail, over the bridge at Eel Creek down to the Cold Spring Harbor waterfront. Take a pen and paper and jot down any interesting birds and wildlife you may encounter. Roosevelt was an avid bird and wildlife watcher who cataloged hundreds of animal and plant species living on his property. See how many you can spy.

After leaving Oyster Bay, head eight miles south for a completely different experience. Step into the luxury and overabundance of the Gilded Age and stay in a fully restored 1920’s vintage American castle (think Newport cliff walk type-mansions, only bigger), built in the early 1900s by financier Otto Kahn.

Don’t know the name “Otto Kahn?” You probably know the face. Two years after his death, Otto’s likeness was used as the model for the cartoon man seen on the front of the board game “Monopoly”.

At a dizzying 109,000 square feet and 127-rooms, Oheka Castle is the second largest private residence ever built in the U.S. (following the Biltmore in North Carolina with 175,000 square feet and 250-rooms).

The building of Oheka included 2 years of creating the hill on which the property would sit. The manufactured mound became the highest point on Long Island, ensuring Oheka’s stunning views. Originally situated on 443 acres, the home boasted 39 fireplaces, a grand staircase modeled after one at Chateau de Fontainebleau (the French palace to monarchs from Louis VII to Napoleon III), and employed 126 servants full time despite the Kahn family using it only in the summer and on weekends.

The home turned inn and special event venue can be seen in Citizen Kane, The Great Gatsby documentary, and even Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” music video.

Head right to the center of downtown Gettysburg, and check in at the Gettysburg Hotel, established in 1797. You’ll discover that the downtown Gettysburg area has a distinctive college-town atmosphere. And with good reason. Though Gettysburg is most famous for the Civil War battle, the town is also home to Gettysburg College. (Fun fact: Eisenhower wrote his memoirs from the campus admissions office.)

A must in any respectable college town, downtown Gettysburg offers plenty of well-attended late-night watering holes and the requisite greasy spoon morning dining establishments. In the evening, check out the Blue and Gray Bar and Grill, right across Lincoln Square from your hotel. Order a 21st Amendment “Brew Free or Die IPA”. Be aware that as you select your burger, you’ll also be choosing sides. Burgers come garnished with either the Union or Confederate army flags.

In the morning (or early afternoon if you had a late night reliving your college glory days), stumble two blocks to the Lincoln Diner where you can grab your coffee and any of your favorite breakfast staples. While enjoying your java in the 1950’s vintage diner, look out the windows to the neighboring railroad tracks. They’re the same ones which carried our 16th president to town on November 19, 1863, the day of the Gettysburg Address.

While in D.C., consider a stay at the Willard InterContinental, which is steeped in historical reverence and traditionalism. The Willard dates back to 1818, though it was not known as such until the middle of the century.

It was at the Willard that our nation’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln stayed for 10 days in the weeks leading up to his first inauguration in 1861. In that same year, poet Julia Ward Howe, an advocate for both abolition and women’s suffrage, penned the lyrics of the Battle Hymn of the Republic while staying at the hotel.

Fun fact, the term “lobbyists” was coined at the Willard by President Ulysses S. Grant. The president used to escape The White House and head to the local hotel to enjoy a cigar and brandy. People with different political agendas knew of the president’s affinity for the hotel and would take advantage of the fact. President Grant began calling them “lobbyists.”