place

Idlewild (Fredericksburg, Virginia)

Gothic Revival architecture in VirginiaHouses completed in 1859Houses in Fredericksburg, VirginiaHouses on the National Register of Historic Places in VirginiaNational Register of Historic Places in Fredericksburg, Virginia

Idlewild, also known as the Downman House, was a historic home located at Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was built in 1859; a fire in April 2003 destroyed most of the interior and collapsed the roof. It was a 2+1⁄2-story, Gothic Revival-style brick dwelling with an English basement and an irregular "T" shape with a center passage plan. The house was topped by a steep slate gable roof. Also on the property at present are three contributing brick dependencies and a contributing pet cemetery. During the American Civil War, Idlewild became a prominent landmark on 4 May 1863, during battle action related to the Chancellorsville campaign. On that evening Confederate General Robert E. Lee used the house as his headquarters, after being initially occupied that day by Federal troops of the Union Sixth Corps.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Idlewild (Fredericksburg, Virginia) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Idlewild (Fredericksburg, Virginia)
Gateway Boulevard, Fredericksburg

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Idlewild (Fredericksburg, Virginia)Continue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 38.290555555556 ° E -77.505555555556 °
placeShow on map

Address

Gateway Boulevard

Gateway Boulevard
22401 Fredericksburg
Virginia, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Share experience

Nearby Places

Historicon
Historicon

Historicon is the largest gaming convention in North America devoted to solely historical miniature wargaming. It is sponsored by the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society, a nonprofit guiding organization. The Wall Street Journal has described Historicon as the "mother of all wargaming conventions."Typically, Historicon is a four-day convention held in July each year since 1994. Thousands of miniature gamers and military history enthusiasts gather to play in hundreds of tabletop games, tournaments, and demonstrations. The convention is accompanied by a flea market of used gaming items and accessories, a large dealer hall offering new merchandise, a series of seminars and training sessions, painting competitions, and similar events. The majority of events are history-related, with the remainder being fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, or horror miniature games.Each year, Historicon has a different theme and focal point (such as the American Civil War or World War II), and many games and supporting events are geared around the theme. Awards are presented to the Best Theme Event, as well as best games in specific time slots and other honors for particularly popular or impressive games. Historicon was held in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at the Lancaster Host Resort, a hotel located on U.S. Route 30 in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish country for many years.For many years it was held in historic Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In 2012 it moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia at the Fredericksburg Expo Center, a convention center a mile from Interstate 95, the main highway on the East Coast of the United States. Fredericksburg is rich in history, with the battlefields of Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House commemorated nearby at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. The National Museum of the Marine Corps is also within easy driving distance. In 2018 Historicon moved back to Lancaster, Pennsylvania and was held at its old home the Lancaster Host Resort (now known as the Wyndham Lancaster Resort and Convention Center). In 2019 Historicon was held at its new home the Lancaster County Convention Center. In 2020, HMGS cancelled all of its conventions, including Historicon, due to Covid-19. In 2021, HMGS was again unable to hold Historicon during the usual mid-July timeframe; however, instead of cancelling again, they held it in mid-November, replacing the Fall In! convention that usually occurs at that time. The 2022 edition of the event was held at the Lancaster County Convention Center.

Braehead (Fredericksburg, Virginia)
Braehead (Fredericksburg, Virginia)

Braehead is a historic house located in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The 6,000 square foot house was built in 1858-1859 by George Mullen for John Howison, born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1809. John Howison's sister was the now-famous Civil War diarist, Jane Briggs (née Howison) Beale. John Howison's father, Samuel Howison, was born in Prince William, Virginia, in 1779. He and his wife, Helen Rose Moore, purchased the house at 1300 Charles Street, Fredericksburg, in 1828. Samuel Howison's father, Stephen Howison, was born in 1735/36 in St. Mary's, Maryland. Stephen Howison's father, John Howison, was born in Braehead, Scotland, in 1682.In 1843, Howison married Anne Richards Lee, a distant cousin of Robert E. Lee through the Hancock Lees, also known as “the Ditchley Lees.” Named in memory of the Lee home where she grew up, the house now known as "Braehead" was a house and farm originally known as "Greenview." When he took breakfast at Greenview (Braehead) before the first Battle of Fredericksburg, General Lee was spending time with distant relations, although Anne Lee Howison had died earlier in the year.John Howison's oldest sons both perished in the Civil War. After the war, John Howison could no longer afford to keep Greenview, including the farm and dairy, and he sold it to his younger brother, Robert Reid Howison, a sometime lawyer and, later, a Presbyterian minister, who wrote and published a major history of Virginia in 1846, and renamed the house "Braehead." It was a descendant of Robert Reid Howison who owned the house when it was sold in 2006. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in May 2000. It is noted for its distinctive characteristics of design and construction and for its historical significance.Braehead is a two-story brick building that is nine bays wide. The main part of the house is square with a two-story kitchen connected by a hyphen. The house has a double-pile (two rooms between the front and rear walls), sidepassage plan with hipped roofed entrance porticos on the east and west façades.Also on the property are two sites contributing to its historical significance: the ruins of a worked stone icehouse and the chimney base of an antebellum house. The house is within the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.During the Battle of Fredericksburg, General Robert E. Lee's headquarters were located near the home. On the morning of December 13, 1862 Lee had breakfast at Braehead.