George Washington Slept Here

"I ... stripped myself very orderly and went in to the Bed as they call'd it, when to my Surprize I found it to be nothing but a Little Straw - Matted together [and] one Thread Bear blanket with double its Weight in Vermin such as Lice and Fleas etc.”

This was how George Washington described his first, rough bed as a young surveyor in 1748, not exactly the down blanket or hotel quality comfort bedding that you’d be tempted to steal!

Washington went on, of course, to sleep in many more beds as he surveyed the soon-to-be independent country, entered the military, and then led the actual fighting against the British. Over the years, many establishments claimed to have hosted the Father of his Country during his travels along the eastern seaboard. The urban legend was memorialized in the 1942 Ann Sheridan/Jack Benny comedy “George Washington Slept Here,” recounting the tale of two New York City sophisticates trying to renovate a country home where the first President reputedly spent a night.

Travelers today can visit the places George Washington actually slept while enjoying a greater selection and comfort of hotel bedding than our first President could ever have imagined. Luxury hotels today, many of which are supplied by Downlite, offer a great selection of pillows, comforters, mattresses, and mattress pads to enhance their guests' stay and increase the chances of repeat business.

Hotel pillows are usually provided in the standard size, but you often can experiment with other sizes and firmnesses -- just ask housekeeping. The normal queen size bed should have four pillows, and six are ideal for a king.

Hotel pillows often feel more luxurious and softer than home pillows, largely because of the fill material. The most common fill materials for hotel quality pillows include down, feathers, and down alternative. Hotels are often prepared to offer pillows in varying degrees of firmness to accommodate all types of sleepers.

Hotel comforters, like pillows, vary according to the fill used, the weight, and the cover material. Summertime sleeping, for example, can be enhanced by using a lightweight comforter with cooling bedding (such as cooling pillows, cooling sheets, or cooling mattress pad).

Hotels either have pillow-top mattresses or use three or four inch thick mattress toppers along with luxury sheets to create a dense, packed feeling under the sheets that masks any imperfections, seams, or bumps in the mattress.

As you can see, we have many more choices than the Founding Fathers did, which can sometimes be confusing. For help in choosing wisely, contact us at Downlite for a no-obligation, personalized consultation. 

Photo Credit: @thehawkins.onthehill