Thursday 28th. Thermometer at 20 in the Morning—30 at Noon and 32 at Night. Clear and very cold. The River frozen to the Channel. Wind at No. Wt. all day.
Mr. Porter & his wife, and Mr. Ingraham and a Mr. Koch a dutch Gentleman came here to dinner. The two first stayed all night. The latter to Alexandria.
I remained at home all day.
Nathaniel Ingraham, who was to sail to Amsterdam within a few weeks, agreed to try to procure a Dutch gardener for GW. He returned by way of Philadelphia in late November but apparently brought no gardener (GW to Ingraham, 22 Mar. 1788, DLC:GW; GW to Clement Biddle, 27 Nov. 1788, PHi: Washington-Biddle Correspondence; Pa. Packet, 11 Oct. and 13 Nov. 1788; see also entry for 15 Nov. 1788).