The onboard TV was removed to make way for a second bar but celebrants on the former presidential yacht Sequoia were connected in every other way to Independence Day action on shore.
All except the crowds and heat, that is.
Because, for $1,750 a couple, the Willard Inter-Continental had offered a gourmet evening afloat — billed as a Presidential Extravaganza Fireworks Cruise — as well as a night’s stay at the hotel with valet parking, breakfast and a “keepsake gift.” Plus the company of Letitia Baldrige, former social secretary and staff director for Jacqueline Kennedy in the Camelot White House. She imparted a few humorous “insider’s” reminiscences in the Willard’s Nest Lounge prior to a 7:30 p.m. embarkation.
Once onboard, the doyenne of good taste and diplomacy spent time waving at passing boats as the Sequoia made its way up and down the Potomac River and Washington Channel.
The package was about as exclusive as it gets since the 81-year-old, 104-foot Sequoia, decommissioned from official service and put up for sale by President Carter in 1977, legally can carry no more than 49 people, crew included. Eight couples signed up — including one duo who has reserved a spot for themselves and six other couples next year. Monday’s intimate event also had hotel chef Spencer Kells to direct an elegant buffet accompanying nonstop Dom Perignon champagne, courtesy of the company’s California-based “ambassador” Rob Casey.
“This is a highlight of my life being here,” volunteered Lee Lockwood, a pharmacist with the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, looking over plaques scattered throughout the vessel to remind visitors of its impressive history.
One marked a table where President Nixon and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev signed the first arms control treaty.
Another noted that doorknobs in the master stateroom were changed to accommodate President Lyndon B. Johnson’s large hands. The many framed mementos included the menu for President Kennedy’s last birthday party held on the Sequoia on May 29, 1963. Dom Perignon was the beverage of choice that night, which inspired Herve Houdre, the Willard’s general manager, to follow suit at the birthday party for America.
— Ann Geracimos
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