Historic Hotels and Inns: Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans

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Nights In The Past

Truly Historic UK and European Hotels

Historic Hotels, Castles, Bed & Breakfast Accommodation, Luxury Spas, Romantic Getaways, Old Inns

USA

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Illinois

CHICAGO

Alas, the original hotel on the site was destroyed by fire only thirteen days after opening in 1871. And the second made way for an even grander building in the early twentieth century. That said, Hilton Palmer House remains an iconic Chicago landmark to this day.

Historic significance: From a literary perspective, Palmer House has welcomed such figures as Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain. Politically, William McKinley, Grover Cleveland, James Garfield, and Ulysses S Grant are all former guests.

CHICAGO

It may not even be a century old, but the Drake Hotel deserves its place on the U.S National Register of Historic Places. After extensive refurbishment over the past decade, the hotel now boasts over 500 rooms, more than 70 suites (including an impressive six-room Presidential Suite) and 4 restaurants.

Historic significance: A veritable mixed bag of the twentieth century�s great & good have called The Drake home-from-home: Winston Churchill (1929), President Herbert Hoover (1931), Cecil B. De Mille (1931), Bing Crosby (1932), George Gershwin (1933), Guglielmo Marconi (1933), Amelia Earheart (1933), to name but a few.

GALENA

Built in 1845, Aldrich Guest House was once the private home of an influential Illinois politician. Today it provides much sought-after bed & breakfast accommodation with five individually furnished guest rooms.

Historic significance: It is said that both Abraham Lincoln and President Grant were both entertained at the house, with the latter recorded as having trained Northern troops on the gardens surrounding the home.

Indiana

KNIGHTSTOWN

Golfers will no doubt be interested to learn that this four guest-room bed & breakfast is located conveniently close to the Royal Hylands Golf Club.

Historic significance: Built circa 1840, the original owner of the Old Hoosier House, Elisha Scovell, is said to have been close friends with President Martin Van Buren. It is thought that he stayed at the house (in the aptly named Martin Van Buren Scovell Room) in 1844.

Iowa

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Lousiana

NEW ORLEANS

Bearing the name of its Sicilian founder, Antonio Monteleone, the hotel is one of only three designated Literary Landmark hotels in the United States. Though much has changed since 1886, it continues to be owned and run by the same family.

Historic significance: The hotel features in Ernest Hemingway�s �Night Before Battle�, and was also frequented by many of America�s most celebrated authors: Wiilam Faulkner, Truman Capote, Eudora Welty and Tennessee Williams among them (the latter first visiting as a young boy).

NEW ORLEANS

Built around 1800 soon after the disastrous fire which destroyed much of the old city, Hotel Maison de Ville also features a number of other accommodation options including cottages (some of which are thought to be the oldest surviving buildings in New Orleans).

Historic Significance: Tennessee Williams often stayed in room number 9, where it is believed he worked upon his classic A Streetcar Named Desire. Meanwhile, the hotel�s seven Audubon Cottages (on nearby Dauphine Street) are named after the famous naturalist and artist John James Audubon � he lived in what is today cottage number one.

BARDSTOWN

Dating back to the late 1700�s, this may be the oldest western stagecoach stop still in existence in the USA. Today it offers five guest rooms, all named after the notable figures to have stayed at the tavern.

Historic Significance: Among the famous guests who stayed here were young Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone, General George S. Patton, Washington Irving and exiled French King Louis Phillipe.