[1] John Suter established the tavern in 1783 in Georgetown on Fishing Lane, near today's intersection of 31st and K Streets, NW.
Suter's Tavern was the location of meetings between George Washington, Andrew Ellicott, and Major Pierre L’Enfant to plan what would one day become the nation's capital[3] Suter continued to operate this tavern until his death in 1794, after which his wife continued running it until early 1796.
By February of that year, Clement Sewall had taken over operations of the Fountain Inn, but by December 1796, he had left to operate the newly built City Tavern (now the City Tavern Club).
Eventually, Suter's Fountain Inn became an oyster-house and ultimately disappeared without record.
[4] George Washington and other notable residents frequented the tavern, which was the site of land deals involved in establishing Washington as the "Federal City".