Mason Locke Weems, better known as Parson Weems

George Washington's first biographer, he is best known as the source of some of the apocryphal stories about George Washington. The famous tale of the cherry tree ("I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet") is included in The Life of Washington (1800), Weems' most famous work. This nineteenth-century bestseller depicted Washington's virtues and provided an entertaining and morally instructive tale for the youth of the young nation.

Parson Weems was the owner of Bel Air Estate in Woobridge, Virginia, built around 1740. George and Martha Washington actually slept here during their honeymoon on their way to Mount Vernon, and Thomas Jefferson was once a guest, too. The house is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parson_Weems
• http://hookedonhouses.net/2012/04/15/george-washington-slept-here-an-18th-century-plantation-house-for-sale-in-virginia/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnieville,_Virginia