John Davis, a Welshman who came to America to teach, has left us a sketch of the tavern of that day and of the people who frequented it, and a part of what Mr. Davis wrote is well worth quoting: "On the porch of the tavern," he says, "I found a party of gentlemen of the neighboring plantations sitting over a bowl of toddy and smoking cigars. On ascending the steps to the piazza, every countenance seemed to say, 'This man has a double claim to our attention, for he is a stranger in the place.' In a moment room was made for me to sit down, and a new bowl of punch called for, and every one addressed me with a smile of conciliation. The higher Virginians seem to venerate themselves. I am persuaded that not one of that company would have felt embarrassed at being admitted to the presence and conversation of the greatest monarch on earth." [Sidenote: _Where Famous Men Often Met_] Attracted by its hospitality and by the constant meeting before the wood-fire of men whose influence was great, gentlemen from all Virginia came to the Rising Sun. George Mason, who Gillard Hunt of the Library of Congress says was "more than any other man entitled to be called the Father of the Declaration of Independence," was frequently there. The young man from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson, who was Mason's pupil in politics, spent much time at Gunston and was often at the tavern. George Washington, whose home was in Fredericksburg, knew the tavern well, and Hugh Mercer, a young physician, and brother-in-law of mine host Weedon (they having married the two Misses Gordon), spent a great deal of time there. Other guests who heard the news and who read of events when the weekly stage brought the belated mail from Williamsburg, to the Tavern Postoffice, where "Light Horse" Harry Lee and Charles Lee, from their near-by home at Wakefield, Charles Carter, son of the mighty "King" Carter, who came from "Cleve"; John Marshall, Dr. Mortimer, the Tayloes, of "Mt. Airy"; John Minor, (afterwards general,) of Hazel Hill; young James Monroe, practicing as an attorney in Fredericksburg and acting as a member of the town council and vestryman of St. George's Church; Samuel, Charles and John Augustine Washington, brothers of George, as well as Fielding Lewis, who married George's sister Betty, and was afterwards a general in the revolutionary army. Many of the frequenters of the tavern held high commissions during the war.