Located in the Nation’s Capital, just west of the White House.
The Octagon House, as it came to be known, was completed in 1801 in the very early days of the new federal city. Constructed for John Tayloe III and his wife Ann Ogle Tayloe, and designed by Dr. William Thornton—the first architect of the Capitol—the house was a prominent statement of support for the new capital city from one of Virginia’s most prominent families.
Dolley Payne Todd Madison (May 20, 1768 – July 12, 1849) was the wife of James Madison, President of the United States from 1809 to 1817. She was noted for her social gifts, which boosted her husband’s popularity as President. In this way, she did much to define the role of the President’s spouse, known only much later by the title First Lady—a function she had sometimes performed earlier for the widowed Jefferson.
Dolley Madison also helped to furnish the newly constructed White House. When the British set fire to it in 1814, she was credited with saving the classic portrait of George Washington. In widowhood, she often lived in poverty, partially relieved by the sale of her late husband’s papers.
Dolley and James Madison resided in the Octagon House from September of 1814 through March of 1815, after the White House was burned by the British.
According to legends, Dolley Madison’s ghost is sometimes seen down in the drawing room of the Octagon, and that the scent of Lilacs often accompanies her ghost.
The oldest recording of the spirit of the First Lady is from 1912, when the Washington Herald reported that “…between midnight and dawn…there is a low hum of pleasant conversation, the sound of silver and the clink of glasses as a splendid company with gay liveried men drive up and take away the departing guests,” in reference to the ghostly continuation of one of Dolley’s famous parties.
Read more here: https://ghosts.fandom.com/wiki/The_Octagon_House
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