An obsession with the unconscious

The Wadsworth House, in Cambridge, Mass., where George Washington really did sleep in the summer of 1775. This photo was taken in the 1870s. The house is still there, and is used for the office of Harvard's University Marshal, commencement offices a…

The Wadsworth House, in Cambridge, Mass., where George Washington really did sleep in the summer of 1775. This photo was taken in the 1870s. The house is still there, and is used for the office of Harvard's University Marshal, commencement offices and offices of a few professors.

"It is a hoary New England tradition to keep track of where famous people slept instead of something they might have done while conscious.''

Andrew H. Malcolm, in U.S. 1: America's Original Main Street (1991)

This plaque in Hartford suggests that Washington slept around a lot in the Nutmeg State, too.

This plaque in Hartford suggests that Washington slept around a lot in the Nutmeg State, too.