 Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes purchased the home in 1851.Wilkes moved the entrance from Madison Place NW to H Street NW, and turned the porch on the west side of the house (facing Madison Place NW) into a window.Witnesses from the mid-19th century onward have claimed to have seen the ghost of Dolley Madison rocking in a chair in the space where the porch used to be, smiling at passersby.