BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Fredericksburg

VA -- Fredericksburg:

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[1] FREDC_140817_001.JPG	[2] FREDC_140817_004.JPG	[3] FREDC_140817_008.JPG
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. FREDC_140817_032.JPG: Gen. Stonewall Jackson by Gen. Lee's request, on this corner planned the battle of Fredericksburg, Nov. 27, 1862 UDC
2. FREDC_140817_035.JPG: 1862 - 1962 In memory of Clara Barton Founder of the American Red Cross. A devoted nurse and tireless organizer who knew no enemy but the unfeeling heart. We walk the ways she took in easing the suffering at the Battle of Fredericksburg, when the churches became military hospitals. Erected by Civil War Centennial Committee of Fredericksburg
3. FREDC_140817_072.JPG: From a Burying Ground to a Park In 1774, St. George's Parish purchased the land around you for a cemetery. Following the American Revolution and disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Virginia, the Fredericksburg government appropriated this land for a public burying ground. The western lot line of the cemetery, marked by a brick wall, is visible to your right. In 1875, the town council decided to convert the increasingly neglected grounds into a park and directed the removal of headstones and graves to other cemeteries. The new park opened July 12, 1881, named in honor of prominent local businessman John G. Hurkamp. In 1860, St. George's Church had petitioned the Council to investigate its claim to the property, but the Civil War interrupted this process. The issue resurfaced in 1953, when the Rescue Squad sought to lease a portion of the park. By then, public usage over several generations had established legal ownership. Hurkamp Park remains public. "On motion made and seconded, resolved unanimously that the new burying ground be enclosed with brick..." -- Council Minutes of July 6th, 1824 Robert Lewis, Mayor (Buried in the Masonic Lodge Cemetery)
4. FREDC_140817_076.JPG: Fredericksburg Cemeteries and the Corporation Burying Ground The park around you was once known as the Corporation Burying Ground. Burials occurred here from 1787 through 1853 and included Dr. Charles Mortimer, who had been Mary Washington's personal physician. He also served as Fredericksburg's first mayor, under the 1781 charter granted by the Virginia Assembly, independent of the British Crown. Following the Civil War, the graves and stones were removed and the cemetery converted to its current use as Hurkamp Park. Fredericksburg encompasses many cemeteries, most of which are open to the public. Collectively they illustrate the broad patterns of history, including Colonial settlement, independence from Britain, the Civil War, the African-American experience, and foreign wars. The Veterans Memorial is not a cemetery, but a list of those who have died in distant wars. Potters Field is no longer in use. Some names are memorialized there, but most are not.
5. FREDC_140817_099.JPG: A Memorial Landscape On this site, the Fredericksburg Area Veteran's Council honors the local men and women who gave their lives in wars and military actions during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The extension of George Street to a new high school cut through several lots to create this island of green. The flagpole comprised the first memorial and lists the names of local men killed in France during World War I. The 40mm anti-aircraft gun is a reminder of World War II. The large granite panels were placed on an expanded island in 2008. The names of the fallen are guarded by two deck guns from the Spanish-American War, a late nineteenth century war that initiated America's historic and continuing role in overseas conflicts. Additional memorials can be found on the grounds of the former school, where students have remembered their peers with benches, flagpoles, and plaques. The town renamed the old Fredericksburg High School after Matthew Fontaine Maury, a local boy who grew up to do pioneering research in oceanography while an officer in the United States Navy. In 1932, a stone memorial, commemorating Virginia's Statute for Religious Freedom, stood in this location. It was moved to Washington Avenue in 1977. An extended George Street is seen in this 1969 City map, which created the traffic island that has been the site of a series of memorials. Matthew Fontaine Maury was born in Spotsylvania county, in 1806. When the Civil War came, he resigned his commission in the U. S. Navy to serve in the Confederate Navy. Maury School was built in 1919, as the Fredericksburg High School. It received substantial additions in 1929 and 1936. This photo shows the original school, without additions. The side door on the right side of the photo is the door visible in front of you.
6. FREDC_140817_114.JPG: Fredericksburg Roll of Honor 1917 World War 1918 A grateful tribute to all who returned ... A tearful triumph to those who sleep
7. FREDC_140817_118.JPG: Liberty Town Seth Barton, 1755-1813, fought in the American Revolution, grew wealthy as a shipping merchant, and speculated in real estate. He laid out the subdivision that came to be called Liberty Town in 1812. He is buried at St. George's Church. Henry Deane was born a slave in Powhatan County, but arrived in Fredericksburg in 1868 as a free man. He worked for several local businesses but also managed his own livery and speculated in real estate. This small community, laid out on the edge of town in 1812, greeted overland travelers with a wagon yard, a livery, a blacksmith, and a tavern/hotel. The tavern was called Rising Sun (later the Western Hotel) and stood on Liberty Street, to your front. It burned down in 1836. Fredericksburg annexed Liberty Town, in 1851, and established a burial ground. Initially called Potters Field, it was later referred to as the Colored Cemetery. In 1861, the town allowed the burial there of 51 Confederate soldiers who had succumbed to disease in nearby encampments. After the Civil War, the town curtailed burials and this area developed as an African-American neighborhood. Many of the graves were removed to the Shiloh Cemetery (opened in 1882), while new houses and commercial enterprises filled the streetscapes. The Fredericksburg High School, to your left, has occupied a prominent site since 1919 and students still use its related athletic field.
Wikipedia Description: Fredericksburg, Virginia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fredericksburg is an independent city in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia, 50 miles south of Washington, D.C., and 55 miles north of Richmond, Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 19,279. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Fredericksburg with neighboring Spotsylvania County for statistical purposes. This city is a part of the Washington Metropolitan Area and, because of the vast abundance of commuters who travel by car, bus, and rail to Fairfax, Prince William, and Arlington Counties as well as Washington, D.C., is considered by many to be a part of Northern Virginia.

History:

Located on the Rappahannock River near the head of navigation at the fall line, Fredericksburg developed as the frontier of colonial Virginia shifted west out of the coastal plain. The land on which the city was founded was part of a tract patented in 1671. The Virginia General Assembly established a fort on the Rappahannock in 1676, just below the present-day city. In 1714, Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood sponsored a German settlement called Germanna on the Rapidan River, a tributary of the Rappahannock upstream from the future site of the city, and led an expedition westward over the Blue Ridge Mountains in 1716.

As interest in the frontier grew, the colonial assembly responded by forming a new county named Spotsylvania (after the governor) in 1720 and establishing Fredericksburg in 1728 as a port for the county, of which it was then a part. Named for Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of King George II and father of King George III, the colonial town's streets bore the names of members of the royal family. The county court was moved to Fredericksburg in 1732 and the town served as county seat until 1780 when the courthouse was moved closer to the county center. Fredericksburg was incorporated as a town, with its own court, council, and mayor, in 1781, and received its charter as an independent city in 1879. The city adopted the city manager/council form of government in 1911.

The city has close associations with George Washington, whose family moved to Ferry Farm in Stafford County just off the Rappahannock opposite Fredericksburg in 1738. Washington's mother Mary later moved to the city, and his sister Betty lived at Kenmore, a plantation house then outside the city. Other significant early residents include the Revolutionary War generals Hugh Mercer and George Weedon, naval war hero John Paul Jones, and future U.S. president James Monroe.

During the 19th century Fredericksburg sought to maintain its sphere of trade but with limited success, promoting the development of a canal on the Rappahannock and construction of a turnpike and plank road to bind the interior country to the market town. By 1837, a north-south railroad, which became the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, linked the town to Richmond, the state capital, but a much-needed railroad joining the town to the farming region to the west remained unfinished until after the Civil War.

During the American Civil War, Fredericksburg gained strategic importance due to its location midway between Washington and Richmond, the opposing capitals of the Union and the Confederacy. During the battle of Fredericksburg, December 11-15, 1862, the town sustained significant damage due to bombardment and looting at the hands of Union forces. A second battle was fought in and around the town on May 3, 1863, in connection with the Chancellorsville campaign (April 27 - May 6, 1863). The battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House were fought nearby in May 1864.

After the war, Fredericksburg recovered its former position as a center of local trade and slowly grew beyond its prewar boundaries. The University of Mary Washington was founded here in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women. Adopting the name of Mary Washington College in 1938, the college was for many years associated with the University of Virginia as a women’s liberal arts college. The college became coeducational in 1970 and is now independent of UVa. Recently the College changed names from Mary Washington College to The University of Mary Washington. A separate campus for graduate and professional studies is located in suburban Stafford County.

Today Fredericksburg is the commercial hub of a rapidly growing region in north central Virginia. Despite recent decades of suburban growth, reminders of the area’s past abound. A 40-block national historic district embraces the city’s downtown area and contains more than 350 buildings dating to the 18th and 19th centuries. Notable homes include Kenmore, home of Washington’s sister Betty, and the Mary Washington House, where his mother spent her final years. The historic district draws crowds of tourists to Fredericksburg during the summer months.

Other historic buildings and museums include the late 18th century Rising Sun Tavern, Hugh Mercer apothecary shop, and the James Monroe law office museum. Significant public buildings include the 1852 courthouse designed by James Renwick, whose works include the Smithsonian Institution’s castle building in Washington and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, and the 1816 town hall and market house. The latter building now houses a local history museum and cultural center.

Nearby points of interest include George Washington Birthplace National Monument, located 38 miles to the east in Westmoreland County, and the Ferry Farm historic site in Stafford County where Washington spent his boyhood across the river from Fredericksburg. The historic community of Falmouth lies across the Rappahannock to the north and includes the historic house Belmont, home of American artist Gari Melchers.

The area’s Civil War battles are commemorated in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park. Formed by an act of Congress in 1927, the national military park preserves portions of the battlefields of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House. The Fredericksburg National Cemetery, also part of the park, is located on Marye’s Heights on the Fredericksburg battlefield and contains more than 15,000 Union burials from the area’s battlefields.

The power chord of modern guiter was first developed by Link Wray here in 1958 during the first improvisation of the instrumental piece Rumble, a single released by Wray & His Ray Men. ...

Notable residents and natives:

* George Washington
* Augustine Washington
* Mary Ball Washington
* Fielding Lewis and Elizabeth "Betty" Washington
* John Paul Jones
* Hugh Mercer
* George Weedon
* Keller Williams, multi-intrumentalist, musician.
* Monty Williams, former basketball player.
* William P. Taylor, congressman
* Al Bumbry, former baseball player.
* Florence King, author of Southern Ladies and Gentlemen, and Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady
* Jeff Rouse, Olympic Swimmer, Gold Medalist and former World Record Holder
* Mark Lenzi, Olympic Diver and Gold Medalist
* Derek Hartley, radio show host
* Dave Smalley, musician, member of All, Dag Nasty, Down by Law, The Sharpshooters
* Henry Crist was a United States Representative from Kentucky.
* John Maine, New York Mets starting pitcher
* George Coghill, Denver Broncos
* James Monroe
* Judge Reinhold, actor
* Erin McKeown, musician
* Zeph Mann, award winning film maker
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