Happy Fourth of July and remember what one of the Founding Fathers said, "I'm just like my country, I'm young, scrappy and hungry and I am not throwing away my shot. . ." Oh wait that was Lin-Manuel Miranda as Hamilton.
Any way I had the opportunity to go back to my hometown New York last month and I meandered up to Harlem to visit The Grange, Hamilton's home, which is a National Historic Landmark. When I was in the building this cute little book entitled Where Was The Room Where It Happened by B.L. Barreras jumped out at me.
It is filled with points of interest historically relevant and mentioned in the musical. Of course the most famous is The Room Where It Happened. Jefferson claimed "He arranged the meeting, the venue, the seating" at his residence on 57 Maiden Lane in NYC. Hamilton wanted to convince Jefferson and James Madison to support his plan for the federal government to assume states debts in exchange for the relocation of the capital to the Potomac. He got what he wanted and he proceeded to form the beginnings of the Federal Reserve Bank.
The actual 57 Maiden Lane building doesn't exist any more, but you can see a plaque on 59 Maiden Lane commemorating Jefferson's residence.
There are lots of points of historical interest and some walking itineraries. Where Was the Room Where it Happened is a wonderful tie-in between Hamilton as the man and Hamilton, the musical.
Happy 4th of July to everyone.
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