About a dozen lawyers usually occupied the table. The lone exception was local undertaker Harry Perinchief.
"Other people use to fight for seats close to the lawyers table so they could catch up on the gossip," Dimon said. "There also was a favorite waitress named Dorothy. You would order from the menu but had to accept what Dorothy brought you."
The annals of history may not place Washington anywhere near the Washington House, but there does remain an outside chance that Marquis de Lafayette slept, or dined, at the inn.
History indicates that Lafayette was in Mount Holly for three days training troops for General Washington. He had to sleep somewhere, didn't he?
When Burr opened the inn in 1749, it was known as the "upper hotel," because it was far removed from the center of town, located at the foot of High Street, according to "The History of Mount Holly," a book written by Henry C. Shinn and first published in 1957.
"That was its name until the Revolutionary War," Mrs. Rogers said. "Then it was named the Washington House because there was a sign out front that said Washington had mounted his white horse there. But he didn't, of course."
Over the years there were many owners, and the size of the property changed as adjacent lands were bought and sold. In 1904, Richard Lamb bought it, demolished the original structure in 1910, and erected a new building.
After his death, his children, Agnes, Edith and Richard, continued to operate it. In 1953 they sold it at auction.
Dimon said he remembers the auction all too well, because he represented the Lamb family. A private sale had been in the making, but the family decided to auction it off in hopes of securing a better price.
"We wound up getting less at auction then we could have gotten in a private sale," Dimon said.
All from Burlington County (N.J.) Times Sunday, December 5, 1982.
Jack Bowman