Washington
President George Washington’s Morning Ride Through Natick – Natick Report
Special to Natick Report by Jennifer Tys Richards, Research and Archives Manager, Natick Historical Society
Want to learn more? Watch “Along the Indifferent Road” and learn more about Washington’s travel through Natick, Sherborn, and Holliston.
On November 3, 1789, George Washington, the newly-elected and first President of the United States, traveled right through what is now South Natick. He was accompanied by a team of four horses, two advisors (Tobias Lear and William Jackson), a baggage wagon and driver, six servants, and his white charger, Prescott. A celebrated Revolutionary War hero, President Washington and all Americans faced an uncertain future. After all, it had only been five months since the Constitution’s ratification, and many considered the document controversial. As he prepared to lead the new nation, Washington set out on a sixty-town tour of New England. Perhaps a few fortunate Natick residents gained a glimpse of their new President as he passed through.
In October 1789, Washington left the temporary capital, then New York City, and traveled through Connecticut and Massachusetts to New Hampshire. Rhode Island had yet to ratify the Constitution, so it was not included on this tour. During the one-month journey, Washington stayed in local taverns, visited farms and businesses, and observed the Sabbath by attending churches of different denominations. In his diary, Washington noted his sometimes critical views of the local room, board, food, and general travel conditions. But these discomforts did not deter him from his goal of getting to know the people and terrain of New England.
Natick was not part of Washington’s route at first, but a snowstorm in Albany forced a change of plans, and the entourage traveled through Natick, Sherborn, and Holliston. Because of the last-minute change, none of the towns had time to prepare festivities or ceremonial parades.
So what did Washington see that early fall morning as he rode into Natick unexpectedly and unannounced? The entourage entered Natick through Needham (now Wellesley). There would have been a crisp chill in the air; winter was approaching. His first impression of Natick would have been shaped by a house that still stands today: 3 Eliot Street.
The Morse-Dana-Leach House at 3 Eliot Street. The structure appears close to the dirt road in this photograph, perhaps as it would have been during Washington’s time (photo courtesy of Natick Historical Society)
A glimpse into an early Natick family
Among the oldest homes in Natick, 3 Eliot Street still stands proudly today. It was built by David Morse in 1759 and purchased by Lieutenant Ephraim Dana on April 27, 1779. The Dana family would likely have been home when President Washington’s carriage passed by the house in the early morning. Lieutenant Ephraim Dana (1744-1792) served in several capacities as a soldier, a member of the town council, and a blacksmith. At that time, Ephraim Dana and his second wife Tabitha Jones, daughter of Esq. John Jones of Dedham, had four children. They were Rebecca (born in 1781), twins Ephraim and Tabitha (born in 1783), and Nathaniel (born in 1787). (The youngest son, Luther, arrived in 1892.) This home was in the family’s possession for over 100 years until Tabitha Dana Leach died in 1869.
While the Dana brothers lived mainly in Portland, Maine, where they engaged in mercantile pursuits, Ephriam (son), a merchant, lived in Boston. In the years before their marriage, daughters Rebecca and Tabitha built an extension of the house for a store, which they ran for many years.
In a paper read at a meeting of the Natick Historical Society on May 1, 1883, Ephraim Dana was noted as “a man of character and influence, and patriotic answering to the call of the Lexington alarm April 19, 1775.” The house “has associations of loved relatives, and congenial friends, where the good and true have lived to brighten, cheer and help.” We would love to imagine that Washington and his entourage sensed something good and true about Natick as he passed through that early morning in 1789.
Tabitha Dana Leach (1783-1863) in the doorway of the Ephraim Dana House at 3 Eliot Street. (Natick Historical Society Collections)
Tabitha Dana Leach foot stove circa 1811. (Natick Historical Society Collections)
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Washington
Widespread Verizon outage prompts emergency alerts in Washington, New York City
Verizon said on Wednesday that its wireless service was suffering an outage impacting cellular data and voice services.
The nation’s largest wireless carrier said that its “engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly.”
Verizon’s statement came after a swath of social media comments directed at Verizon, with users saying that their mobile devices were showing no bars of service or “SOS,” indicating a lack of connection.
Verizon, which has more than 146 million customers, appears to have started experiencing services issues around 12:00 p.m. ET, according to comments on social media site X.
Two hours later, Verizon posted an update on social media, saying that its engineers were “continuing to address today’s service interruptions,” but did not say if a specific reason for the outage had been identified or when it could be resolved.
“We understand the impact this has on your day and remain committed to resolving this as quickly as possible,” the company said.
Despite those efforts, shortly after 4:00 p.m. ET, Verizon issued a third statement that contained little new information. The company said teams were “on the ground actively working to fix today’s service issue.”
Users had initially reported problems with Verizon’s competitors, T-Mobile and AT&T, as well. But both companies said they were not experiencing any service problems.
“T-Mobile’s network is keeping our customers connected, and we’ve confirmed that our network is operating normally and as expected,” a spokesperson told NBC News. “However, due to Verizon’s reported outage, our customers may not be able to reach someone with Verizon service at this time.”
A spokeswoman for AT&T also said the company’s network was “operating normally.”
In Washington, D.C., the District’s official emergency notification system sent out a message to residents saying that the Verizon outage was “nationwide.”
“If you have an emergency and can not connect using your Verizon Wireless device, please connect using a device from another carrier, a landline, or go to a police district or fire station to report the emergency,” the AlertDC system told recipients.
New York City’s Office of Emergency Management also said it was aware of the outage without mentioning Verizon by name. The city said it was “working closely with our partners” to review the outage and “assess any potential effects on city agencies & essential services.”
Washington
Vance to meet Danish and Greenlandic officials in Washington on Wednesday
People walk along a street in downtown of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026.
Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
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Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
NUUK, Greenland — Along the narrow, snow-covered main street in Greenland’s capital, international journalists and camera crews stop passersby every few meters (feet) asking them for their thoughts on a crisis which Denmark’s prime minister has warned could potentially trigger the end of NATO.

Greenland is at the center of a geopolitical storm as U.S. President Donald Trump is insisting he wants to own the island — and the residents of its capital Nuuk say it is not for sale. Trump said he wants to control Greenland at any cost and the White House has not ruled out taking the island by force.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance will meet Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the Arctic island, which is a semiautonomous territory of the United States’ NATO ally Denmark.
Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told The Associated Press in Nuuk that she hoped American officials would get the message to “back off.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in the Danish capital Copenhagen on Tuesday that, “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”

Greenland is strategically important because as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the possibility of shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals which are needed for computers and phones.
Trump also said he wants the island to expand America’s security and has cited what he says is the threat from Russian and Chinese ships as a reason to control it.
But both experts and Greenlanders question that claim.
“The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market,” Lars Vintner, a heating engineer told AP. He said he frequently goes sailing and hunting and has never seen Russian or Chinese ships.
His friend, Hans Nørgaard, agreed, adding “what has come out of the mouth of Donald Trump about all these ships is just fantasy.”
Denmark has said the U.S. — which already has a military presence — can boost its bases on Greenland. For that reason, “security is just a cover,” Vintner said, suggesting Trump actually wants to own the island to make money from its untapped natural resources.
Nørgaard told AP he filed a police complaint in Nuuk against Trump’s “aggressive” behavior because, he said, American officials are threatening the people of Greenland and NATO. He suggested Trump was using the ships as a pretext to further American expansion.

“Donald Trump would like to have Greenland, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin would like Ukraine and (Chinese President) Xi Jinping would like to have Taiwan,” Nørgaard said.
Mikaelsen, the student, said Greenlanders benefit from being part of Denmark which provides free health care, education and payments during study.
“I don’t want the U.S. to take that away from us,” she said.
Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for business and mineral resources said it’s “unfathomable” that the United States is discussing taking over a NATO ally and urged the Trump administration to listen to voices from the Arctic island’s people.
Washington
HIGHLIGHT | Lawrence Dots a Pass to Washington for a 6-Yard TD
DE Dawuane Smoot, LB Foyesade Oluokun, TE Brenton Strange, S Eric Murray, and S Antonio Johnson speak with the media after practice on Thursday ahead of the Wild Card Matchup vs. Bills.
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2:29 – 6:24 – LB Foyesade Oluokun
6:25 – 9:25 – TE Brenton Strange
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11:33 – 13:46 – S Antonio Johnson
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