[1] She celebrated Washington's birthday by opening the doors of her shop to local businessmen and merchants, serving cakes and whisky punch.
[4][5]Close by this old market, at the corner of Cliff and John Streets, lived a colored woman named Mary Simpson, who originated the observance of Washington’s birthday in New York City.
She opened a little store in the basement of her house, where she sold milk, butter, and eggs, with cookies, pies and sweetmeats of her own manufacture; and she also took in washing for several gentlemen who resided in the neighborhood.
She never forgot her old master’s birthday, nor did she want her friends or patrons to forget it, as that day was above all the holidays with her; and she kept it most faithfully, by preparing a very large cake, which she called ‘Washington Cake’ (once a favorite of Washington), a large quantity of punch, then a fashionable drink, and hot coffee.
She was a friend of Sojourner Truth, and was described as a "doer of the Word," performing acts of charity among her fellow New Yorkers.