George Washington’s Hometown

Waving from the Rising Sun Tavern.

Journey Back in Time

George Washington would still recognize his old hometown of Fredericksburg, Virginia

By Fred J. Eckert

Few self-proclaimed “historic” towns around the country actually offer up much or even any truly significant history. Mostly, they’re about obscure local history.

But little Fredericksburg, Virginia, is genuinely historic. When it comes to American history, nowhere else in small-town America will you find anything that compares.

A lot of other places may boast that “George Washington Slept Here,” but a T-shirt you can find for sale in Fredericksburg is inscribed with a message that pretty well sums up the town’s special edge: “George Washington Slept Many Places, But He Lived in Fredericksburg.”

“If you like American history, you’ve come to the right town,” Bill Beck told me as we stood chatting on the sidewalk in front of his store, “Beck’s Antiques & Books,” on Caroline Street. “Most Americans don’t realize it, but George Washington grew up right over there.”

Beck gestured toward the nearby Rappahannock River, the narrow river that young George Washington crossed to come to town from Ferry Farm, the home and farm where he spent much of his early life.

Beck loves Fredericksburg and knows it well. He’s a former mayor of the town.

“Just up the street here, where Weedon’s Tavern once stood, that’s where, in 1777 a committee of Virginians, notably Thomas Jefferson and George Mason, drafted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom,” he said. “That’s the work that established the American principle of religious liberty and eventually evolved into our First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion.

“Ferry Farm was where George Washington spent his formative years. He lived there from age 6 to 16. This is where his roots are. This is a place he always enjoyed coming home to—and he did so often.” MARYLAND

Washington, D.C

Fredericksburg

Richmond

VIGINIA

Fredericksburg

is located halfway between Washington, D.C., and Richmond.

The streets in Fredericksburg that were named for British Crown Prince Frederick, son of George II and father of George III (best remembered as the last king of the American colonies) still stand where they stood in Washington’s time. They still bear their original names honoring Frederick’s royal family.

Washington sometimes headed down Caroline Street to the spot at the corner of Amelia Street where one of his best friends, Dr. Hugh Mercer, the man to whom he sold Ferry Farm, had his doctor’s office and an apothecary shop. Mercer closed shop to go off to help his friend in the Revolutionary War. He became a general and a war hero, as his great-great-greatgrandson, George S. Patton, later would as well. Mercer died at the Battle of Princeton.

The Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop, a small, green-shuttered clapboard Colonial, houses a fascinating museum that convincingly demonstrates just how primitive the practice of medicine was in the late 18th century and early 19th century.

Fredericksburg was also home to another president—James Monroe. He moved there at age 28 to open his law office. He began his political career as a member of the Fredericksburg City Council.

The James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library on Charles Street contains the nation’s largest collection of remembrances of Monroe’s extraordinary career, including the Louis XVI desk on which he signed the message to Congress that has come to be known as the Monroe Doctrine.

Shops in town are filled with Civil War memorabilia. Fredericksburg and its surrounding area saw more Civil War fighting than any other comparable area in the nation, as well as some of the bloodiest.

Control of the city of Fredericksburg itself changed hands repeatedly. It was battered, beaten, bruised, bombarded, shelled, looted, plundered, and pounded. It was devastated— but never destroyed.

It’s a wonder the town still stood when the war ended.

Take a closer look at some of the buildings in town, and images of fierce Civil War fighting come to mind, as you realize that, yes, those are cannonballs embedded there.

Look at the front steps of the building that over the past few years has been home to both Foode’s and Mercantile’s restaurants and for the preceding 200 years had housed the National Bank of Fredericksburg, and you can imagine what it was like on May 22, 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln stood there and addressed the Union troops and the citizens of what even today is still a very Southern town.

Robert E. Lee also did some courting in Fredericksburg. Like Washington and Madison and Monroe, he was born and raised not far from the town. But when you envision him, it’s more likely to be astride his horse Traveler, leading a column of Confederate soldiers through these streets with his friend Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson riding along next to him.

It was at the Battle of Fredericksburg that Lee, looking out at the grand pageantry of war, uttered his famous observation: “It is well that we know how terrible war really is, else we would grow too fond of it.” 

Fred J. Eckert is a retired U.S. ambassador and former member of Congress.

40

BLOCKS

in the Historic District encompass history from the colonial, revolutionary, and the Civil War eras.

If You Go

Getting There:

The closest aiport is Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, just over an hour’s drive away. The Richmond airport is about 1 hour 15 minutes away. Both I-95 and Route 1 pass directly through Fredericksburg.

Springtime Fun:

If you go this season, head to Braehead Farm for strawberry picking. Don’t miss the town’s First Fridays, where you can sip on the go and view the art galleries. Old Towne carriage tours offer a fun way to visit the town with informed guides.