Your Nassau Inn traces back to a 1756 house built for Judge Thomas Leonard. It first opened at 52 Nassau Street in 1769 inside a house built in 1756 as the home of Judge Thomas Leonard, the local citizen who helped convince the College of New Jersey to relocate to Princeton. After Leonard’s death in 1769 Christopher Beekman turned the house into a hotel he called the College Inn.
Situated at the midpoint between New York City and Philadelphia on the King's Highway, the inn quickly became the center of town life. During the American Revolution the building experienced British occupation and later played host to members of the Continental Congress when they met in nearby Nassau Hall. In 1937 the original inn was demolished to make way for the Palmer Square development, and a new, larger inn opened at 10 Palmer Square in 1938.
Inside, the hotel's Yankee Doodle Tap Room displays a large Norman Rockwell mural of Yankee Doodle behind the bar. The Nassau Inn remains within walking distance of Princeton University and continues to mark the town's long link to college, commerce, and early national politics. Notice the Tap Room mural inside, then glance toward Nassau Hall across the square.