Walking the Same Ground

Walking the Same Ground

4:40

Some trips are business. Some are personal. This one was neither — it was historic, in the most literal sense of the word.

My partner from Data Power Supply, Jimmy, happens to be a direct descendant of George Washington. When the 917 Society heard that, the answer was obvious: bring him along.

So we did what the moment called for. Set the alarm for somewhere around 4am, left the house before the sun was up, and hopped a flight out of Fort Lauderdale. We landed at LaGuardia and were met at the airport by a guy named Victor — who I was completely convinced was a scam. He wasn't. He turned out to be one of the best parts of the day. Knew the city cold, navigated it effortlessly, and got us out when we needed to make our flight. New York delivered in ways I didn't expect.

We Walked Into Something We Didn't Know Was Happening

When we arrived at Federal Hall, it was our starting point for the 917 Society's rededication walk. What we found instead was a full ceremony already underway inside that stunning rotunda, lit in red, white, and blue. The pamphlet said it all: 237th Anniversary Inaugural Reenactment — President George Washington — April 30, 2026, Federal Hall, New York City.

We had walked into an official commemoration. A significant portion of the crowd were Freemasons — which makes complete historical sense, given Washington's own Masonic ties and the role the fraternity played in the founding era. We weren't part of their ceremony, but we mingled, talked with people, and absorbed the gravity of the room. It was one of those unplanned moments that ends up being the most memorable part of the day.

The Walk

On April 30th, 1789 — 237 years ago to the day — George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States at Federal Hall. After taking the oath, he made a short walk to St. Paul's Chapel, where he knelt and dedicated the new nation to God. The first official act of the first President. The 917 Society organized a rededication walk retracing that exact path. Same streets. Same date. Roger — a 917 board member who portrays Washington with a level of authenticity that stopped random New Yorkers cold — led the procession in full period costume. People on the sidewalk stopped, stared, pulled out their phones, and asked for pictures. In the middle of Manhattan. On a Wednesday morning. Having Jimmy there — an actual blood descendant of Washington — walking that same route added a layer to the day that's hard to put into words.

Joni delivered a speech outside St. Paul's that was genuinely moving. A pastor led the group in prayer. Roger, in character, performed a ceremonial rededication — kneeling at the same altar where Washington once knelt. It wasn't theatrical. It was sincere.

The Aitken Bible

Steve Skelton from the American Bible Project was there with something remarkable: an original Aitken Bible. The first Bible ever printed in America — authorized by Congress in 1782 for distribution to soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Being in the same room with something like that recalibrates your sense of scale in a way that's hard to describe.

I spend most of my days thinking about infrastructure, AI, and what the next five to ten years of technological change looks like. That's the work. But every once in a while it's worth stepping back into the context of where all of this sits.

America was founded by people who made an enormous bet — on self-governance, on individual liberty, on the idea that a nation could be built on principles rather than bloodlines. They walked those streets. They stood in those buildings. They knelt in that church. We got to walk it too.

A sincere thank you to Joni and the entire 917 Society for inviting Jimmy and me into this experience. It was historic in the truest sense of the word — and exactly the kind of thing that reminds you why the work matters.

Good day. Great people. Glad we went.