The Delaware State Society of Washington, DC will host a formal black-tie Inaugural Ball in the grand ballroom of the famous and historic 19th Century landmark Willard InterContinental Hotel Washington on January 19. Tickets are $300 each and are limited to a capacity of 650 guests. Tickets are selling fast and a great dance band has been hired. The location of the Willard is 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW only two blocks east of The White House. The Willard has hosted every American president from President Franklin Pierce in 1853 to President George W. Bush. President Abraham Lincoln stayed in this beautiful and ornate old hotel before his Inauguration on March 5, 1861.
The lobby has been carefully restored to its 19th Century grandeur and is a great place to take pictures. It was here that famous guests of that century such as Charles Dickens from England and Mark Twain in his white linen suit used to promenade on the famous Peacock Alley. Here also Julia Ward Howe heard Union troops in the night march past her hotel window as she wrote the words to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and here also 100 years later Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his "I Have a Dream" speech. Or you can visit the Round Robin Bar where Sen. Henry Clay of Kentucky introduced Washington City to the mint julep before the Civil War. Clay's recipe is still followed today in the bar.
If you would like to buy tickets to the Delaware State Society Inaugural Ball, please send an email to Delaware State Society President Mrs. Nancy Aiken at Broomie53@aol.com or call her at 301-983-8182. Or, make your check payable to "Delaware State Society," include your name and phone number and address and either mail or FED EX your check to Delaware State Society, c/o Mr. Aiken, 11333 Woodglen Drive, No. 104, Rockville, MD 20852. Members of Congress from both parties from Delaware are invited to attend but we can make no guarantees as to what officials might be able to attend or at what time due to so many schedule conflicts on Jan. 19. So come for a black-tie dance, good buffet food and a wonderful party. But bring a small camera too just in case some other famous Delawareans also show up in addition to you.