Washington Avenue Historic District (Fredericksburg, Virginia)

Kenmore, also known as Kenmore Plantation, is a plantation house at 1201 Washington Avenue in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Built in the 1770s, it was the home of Fielding and Betty Washington Lewis and is the only surviving structure from the 1,300-acre (530 ha) Kenmore plantation. The house is architecturally notable for the remarkable decorative plaster work on the ceilings of many rooms on the first floor. In 1970 the property was declared a National Historic Landmark.Kenmore is owned and operated as a house museum by The George Washington Foundation (formerly George Washington's Fredericksburg Foundation), and is open daily for guided tours. The Foundation also owns nearby Ferry Farm, where George Washington lived as a child.

Fredericksburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. It is 48 miles (77 km) south of Washington, D.C., and 53 miles (85 km) north of Richmond. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg with neighboring Spotsylvania County for statistical purposes. Located near where the Rappahannock River crosses the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, Fredericksburg was a prominent port in Virginia during the colonial era. During the Civil War, Fredericksburg, located halfway between the capitals of the opposing forces, was the site of the Battle of Fredericksburg and Second Battle of Fredericksburg. These battles are preserved, in part, as the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. More than 10,000 African-Americans in the region left slavery for freedom in 1862 alone, getting behind Union lines. Tourism is a major part of the economy. Approximately 1.5 million people visit the Fredericksburg area annually, including the battlefield park, the downtown visitor center, events, museums, art shops, galleries, and many historical sites.Fredericksburg is home to Central Park (as of 2004, the second-largest mall on the East Coast). The Spotsylvania Towne Centre is located in Spotsylvania County, adjacent to the city. Major employers include the University of Mary Washington (named for the mother of George Washington, who lived here), Mary Washington Healthcare, and GEICO. Many Fredericksburg area residents commute to work by car, bus, and rail to Washington, D.C., and Richmond, as well as Fairfax, Prince William, and Arlington counties.

The Rowe House is a historic home located at Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was built in 1828, and is a two-story, four-bay, double-pile, side-passage-plan Federal style brick dwelling. It has an English basement, molded brick cornice, deep gable roof, and two-story front porch. Attached to the house is a one-story, brick, two-room addition, also with a raised basement, and a one-story, late 19th century frame wing. The interior features Greek Revival-style pattern mouldings. Also on the property is a garden storage building built in about 1950, that was designed to resemble a 19th-century smokehouse.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

The Matthew Fontaine Maury School (also known as Maury School), in Fredericksburg, Virginia, is an historic school building noted for its Colonial Revival architecture and design as well as its significance in the entertainment and cultural life of Fredericksburg. The architect of the building was Philip Stern. Built in 1919-1920, the school was used from then until 1952 for both elementary and high-school students. After the construction of James Monroe High School, the building was used as an elementary- and middle-school. The school was closed in 1980. Maury School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in March 2007.

Hugh Mercer Apothecary was an apothecary founded by Hugh Mercer in the mid-18th century. Mercer was a doctor who fled Scotland after the Battle of Culloden. He travelled to Pennsylvania, where he met Colonel George Washington during the French and Indian War and later moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia, on Washington's advice to practice medicine and operate an apothecary. The building that housed the apothecary has been restored by Preservation Virginia (formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities) to demonstrate 18th Century medical treatments. It also includes a small exhibit on Mercer's life and contributions to the American Revolutionary War.In mid-2012, Preservation Virginia signed an agreement passing ownership to the "Washington Heritage Museums" group beginning in 2013. The museum is located at 1020 Caroline Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat, between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Robert E. Lee, included futile frontal attacks by the Union army on December 13 against entrenched Confederate defenders along the Sunken Wall on the heights behind the city. It is remembered as one of the most one-sided battles of the war, with Union casualties more than twice as heavy as those suffered by the Confederates. A visitor to the battlefield described the battle as a "butchery" to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Burnside's plan was to cross the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg in mid-November and race to the Confederate capital of Richmond before Lee's army could stop him. Bureaucratic delays prevented Burnside from receiving the necessary pontoon bridges in time and Lee moved his army to block the crossings. When the Union army was finally able to build its bridges and cross under fire, direct combat within the city resulted on December 11–12. Union troops prepared to assault Confederate defensive positions south of the city and on a strongly fortified ridge just west of the city known as Marye's Heights. On December 13, the Left Grand Division of Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin was able to pierce the first defensive line of Confederate Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson to the south, but was finally repulsed. Burnside ordered the Right and Center Grand Divisions of major generals Edwin V. Sumner and Joseph Hooker to launch multiple frontal assaults against Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's position on Marye's Heights – all were repulsed with heavy losses. On December 15, Burnside withdrew his army, ending another failed Union campaign in the Eastern Theater.

The Slave Auction Block in Fredericksburg, Virginia is a large stone that was used as an auction block in historical slave auctions. It was located on the corner of William Street and Charles Street, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Fredericksburg Historic District. After almost a century of debate as to whether or not it should be removed as a symbol of racial oppression, it was voted by City Council to be moved on June 11, 2019, one year before the protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd. The city council had been planning the block's removal since 2017, with a court victory by the council in February 2020 having cleared the last remaining legal obstacles to moving it. The auction block was removed from its site on June 5, 2020, and is displayed at the Fredericksburg Area Museum.

The Rising Sun Tavern is a historic building in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was built in about 1760 as a home by Charles Washington, youngest brother of George Washington, and became a tavern in 1792.

The James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library is a historic museum at 908 Charles Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It is located on the site of the James Monroe Law Office, used by future United States President James Monroe from 1786 to 1789. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966. It is now owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia and operated by the University of Mary Washington. The museum features original objects and memorabilia related to James Monroe, and includes items relating to other members of his family, including dresses worn by First Lady Elizabeth Monroe.

The Lewis Store, also known as the Fielding Lewis Store, is a historic commercial building located at Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was built in 1749, and is a two-story, front-gable, three-bay Georgian style brick store. The second story addition was built in 1808. The building was rehabilitated between 2000 and 2006. The first story consists of a "sales room" on the front and a "counting room" on the rear. The building functioned as a store until 1823, after which it was used as a residence. It was built by John Lewis and operated by him and his son, Fielding Lewis, who was married to George Washington's sister Betty Washington Lewis. Fielding and Betty Lewis built the nearby Kenmore. The Lewis family sold the store in 1776.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. It is located in the Fredericksburg Historic District.

Fredericksburg Baptist Church is a historic church founded in 1804 and located in the historic district of downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Farmers Bank of Fredericksburg, also known as The National Bank of Fredericksburg, is a historic bank building located at Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was built in 1819–20, and is a 2+1⁄2-story, rectangular red-brick building in the Federal style. It features a slate-covered front gable roof with a lunette window in the front pediment, wide cornice, three pairs of brick chimneys, and engaged pedestal columns with full entablature on the front facade. The front portion of the main floor had been used as a banking house since its construction, while the rooms at the rear and those on the second floor housed the bank's cashiers and their families from 1820 to 1920. In 2016, after completing renovations to the inside of the building, the building was converted into a restaurant while keeping the existing bank vault as a private dining area.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.