HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
A Princeton landmark since 1756 that housed the Committee of Safety during the Revolution and now appears on the 2025 Historic Hotels of America Most Haunted list
10 Palmer Square, Princeton, NJ 08542
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Hotel rates vary seasonally; public dining in the Yankee Doodle Tap Room is open to non-guests. No admission charge to visit the lobby.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Lobby and restaurant are flat and accessible; historic staircase is a focal point of haunting accounts
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1937 · Princeton landmark since 1756 · Committee of Safety meeting site during the Revolution · Frequented by Albert Einstein and Kurt Gödel · Norman Rockwell mural (1939) in the Yankee Doodle Tap Room · 2025 Historic Hotels of America Top 25 Most Haunted Hotels
The Nassau Inn's founding is documented to 1756, when a tavern on Nassau Street served Princeton's community adjacent to the College of New Jersey — now Princeton University. During the Revolutionary War, the Committee of Safety convened at the property, placing it within the network of sites where colonial resistance was organized in central New Jersey.
The current structure on Palmer Square is new construction completed in 1937, after the original 52 Nassau Street tavern closed, built to preserve the 'Old Nass' tradition in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Despite the 20th-century construction, the inn maintained its status as Princeton's anchor hospitality establishment through the following decades. Albert Einstein, who lived and worked in Princeton from 1933 until his death in 1955, was a documented regular visitor. Kurt Gödel, the Austrian-American mathematician best known for his incompleteness theorems, was a frequent guest and reportedly claimed a favored set of red chairs in the lobby.
The inn's Norman Rockwell mural in the Yankee Doodle Tap Room, painted in 1939, depicts the legend of Yankee Doodle and has become one of the property's most recognized features.
In 2025, the Nassau Inn was included on the Historic Hotels of America Top 25 Most Haunted Hotels list, placing it alongside well-documented paranormal properties nationally.
Sources
The most specific haunting accounts at the Nassau Inn concentrate on two locations: the main staircase and the lobby seating area. A woman in period dress is reported to descend the staircase and disappear before reaching the bottom landing — the account is consistent enough across unconnected witnesses that it appears in multiple local media summaries of Princeton's haunted sites. A figure in Revolutionary War uniform has been reported walking through closed doors inside the inn, an account tied to the site's documented Revolutionary-era use rather than any surviving eighteenth-century building fabric.
The lobby's association with Kurt Gödel has generated a quieter category of claim. Gödel, who suffered from paranoia and food-refusal in his later years and died in 1978, is said to have a lingering presence near his favored chairs — described not as a visible apparition but as a felt presence or sudden drop in temperature. The historical specificity of Gödel's documented attachment to a particular set of red chairs gives this account more grounding than generic cold-spot reports.
The 2025 Historic Hotels of America recognition placed the Nassau Inn within the documented national register of historically significant haunted properties.
Notable Entities
The Nassau Inn appears on the 2025 Historic Hotels of America Top 25 Most Haunted Hotels list. Guests seeking a paranormal experience can book standard rooms or suites through the inn's reservation system. The most-reported activity concentrates around the main staircase and the lobby seating area associated with former guest Kurt Gödel.
Non-guests can visit the public areas of the Nassau Inn, including the Yankee Doodle Tap Room with its Norman Rockwell mural, the lobby with the Gödel seating area, and the main staircase. The public areas are in the Palmer Square building completed in 1937, after the original 52 Nassau Street tavern closed; its design evokes an inn's imagined progress from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, and a stone platform seat in the cellar is one of the few authentic remnants of the original tavern. No formal guided dark history tour is offered by the inn.
Some links on this page may earn HauntBound a small commission when you book, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial picks are independent. Full disclosure
See current room rates and availability at Nassau Inn.
Check rates and bookRates come from booking partners, so a small property may not be listed. Book direct with Nassau Inn
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Free Guide
12 verified stops, rated for families, mapped in order. Free.
One email to confirm, then the guide link. Unsubscribe anytime.
Rapid City, SD
The Hotel Alex Johnson began construction in 1927 and opened July 1, 1928, in downtown Rapid City as the vision of Alex Carlton Johnson. The Art Deco masterpiece represents early 20th-century hospitality luxury, featuring architectural distinction and historical significance throughout the Black Hills region. Johnson himself operated the hotel until his death in 1938. The facility has remained continuously operational and is now part of the Curio Collection by Hilton.
Hot Springs, AR
Hot Springs' flagship resort opened in 1875 and was rebuilt in its current Mediterranean Revival form in 1924. During Prohibition it operated openly as a retreat for organized crime figures, with Al Capone booking Suite 443 repeatedly between 1927 and 1931 while the city's political machine shielded illegal gambling and prostitution operations.
Little Rock, AR
The Denckla commercial block was constructed in 1872 and transformed into the Capital Hotel in 1876, and it has served as Little Rock's leading downtown hotel through multiple eras of renovation and ownership.