We're happy to have a guest post from local historian and friend of the blog, Garrett Peck who is the author of The Smithsonian Castle and the Seneca Quarry, released from The History Press.
Garrett's book tells the story of a (until recently!) largely-forgotten quarry in Seneca, Maryland, which provided the stone for the Smithsonian Castle and a host of other local landmarks. As he explains, the quarry also proved to be a source of scandal for President U.S. Grant in the 1870s.