Dear Daytrippers,

Meet Fred:

Directly between Washington D.C. and Richmond, lies Fredericksburg VA – on a very well-worn track I have traveled many times – I can’t think why I have not taken the exit before.

Fredericksburg’s motto is “America’s Most Historic City.” While I’m sure there are a few other cities who might debate that claim it is definitely a mecca for history buffs. “Fred” as the locals call it, was called “home” by George Washington.

Born at Pope’s Creek Farm in Westmorland, VA in 1732, George Washington and his family moved to this plantation – Ferry Farm – when he was 6 years old. This is where George spent most of his childhood and is the setting for most of the stories we know and love. These stories are derived from Parson Mason Locke Weems book “Life of Washington”, first published in 1800. Ferry Farm is where the popular fable claims he cut down the cherry tree and uttered the immortal words “I cannot tell a lie”.
Today, the site is closed but the gate was open and I was able to walk freely about the grounds. Turns out, it is an active archaeological site. Although historians have known for a long time that this was the Washington home, it wasn’t until as recently as 2008 that they found the original site of the actual building itself.

Good man that he was, in 1772, George purchased a tiny but adorable home in downtown Fredericksburg for his mother, Mary Ball Washington, and this is where she lived the last 17 years of her life. Here, his younger brother, Charles built a home in 1760, which was turned into the Rising Sun Tavern in 1792 and is now a museum. His sister, Betty, moved to Fredericksburg’s Kenmore Plantation when she married Fielding Lewis, in the 1770s. The beautiful brick mansion and immaculate gardens are a reminder of how the wealthy lived in Virginia before the Revolutionary War. A short walk down Washington Avenue from Betty’s home is the tomb and gravesite of Mary – Mother of Washington. The Mary Washington Monument is the only monument in the United States erected to a woman by women. In 1789, shortly after Mary’s death, the US Congress passed a resolution to erect a monument in her honor. President Andrew Jackson laid the cornerstone in May 1833. In 1889 an ad in the Washington Post announced, “The Grave of Mary, mother of General George Washington to be sold at public auction.” Outraged, a group of local women formed an association to save the site and encouraged “every patriot to send in a contribution large or small” for this purpose. With the help of the newly formed Daughters of the American Revolution the fundraising became a national effort. The Monument, which echoes the design of the Washington Monument in DC, was dedicated May 10, 1894. “Thus the resolution adopted at the first meeting of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was faithfully fulfilled by the women of America … “all joined in placing the monument to Mary the mother of Washington, erected by her countrywomen.”

The streets are quiet now. No meetings, no crowds around the monuments – in fact a poster of a horizontal President Washington reminds us to stay “at least one George apart”. But in the streets of “Fred” on this chilly day I get a real sense of how we started to come together as a new country. On September 19, 1796 in Washington’s Farewell to the People of the United States – he urged citizens to feel as though they were part of something larger than themselves and that the country was united as one nation. “The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism”. George Washington

Wish you were here – just “one George apart”.
Stay Well,
John