We were in an old building, apparently an antique store with a coffee cafe on the side. After caffeine and a nosh, we wandered the store, and realized it was not just antiques, but all kinds of things: souvenirs, scented candles, fancy tchotchkes, etc. We even got a little lost, moving from room to room to room, eventually finding our way out past the elderly man at the register.
We had a bit of conversation, remarking on the building, and got to talking history. He’d been working there over fifty years, since 1970; evidently it’s been in the family since the 1930s, and dates back to the 1700s. This withstood later scrutiny of the outside; the building was clearing a stone box, later had balconies added, perhaps a third floor, with a couple of extensions off to the side.
It had been a hotel for a long time, a stagecoach stop between Trenton and Philadelphia. We were in Pennsylvania after all, just over the river from New Jersey, by a tributary of the Delaware. He said only one President he knew of had stayed there, once: Grover Cleveland.
“Big fan,” I said. I rattled off the basic trivia: Sherrif, Governor, President; first Democrat elected to President after the Civil War, only two-term non-consecutive President.
“I hope we don’t have one of those again,” said the man. Clarifying, “you know who I mean.”
“Pretty sure I do,” I replied, taking his implication.
“And I’m a Republican!”
“I know plenty of others like you.”
We said pleasant goodbyes. Notable, in Bucks County, PA.