Visit Washington Heritage Museums

HOURS

March 1 - October 31

Monday - Saturday 10am - 4pm

Sunday 12 noon - 4pm

November 1 - February 28

Monday-Saturday 11am - 4pm

Sunday 12 noon - 4pm

Closed: Thanksgiving Day, December 24-25, 31 and January 1

ADMISSION FEES

Heritage Pass – Multisite Admission - $15 - BUY NOW

Adults - $7  Children 6-18 - $3  Children under 6 - free

Discounts for Groups (8+) & AAA Members

Washington Heritage Museums Members FREE  - JOIN TODAY

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PROPERTY HISTORY

ca. 1772 In 1772, George Washington purchased a house from Michael Robinson in Fredericksburg, Virginia for his mother. Mary Ball Washington spent her last seventeen years in this comfortable home.

The white frame house sits on the corner of Charles and Lewis Streets and was in walking distance to Kenmore, home of Mary's daughter Betty Washington Lewis. Tradition has it that, during the Revolution, General Lafayette came by the home seeking a visit with Mrs. Washington and found her working in her garden. The President-to-be came to this home to receive his mother's blessing before attending his inauguration in 1789.

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In 1890, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, later named Preservation Virginia acquired the Mary Washington House and saved it from certain destruction. The house was slated to be disassembled for travel to the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition and reassembled there for display. The organization opened the house to the public in 1903. The house later underwent an extensive restoration and was reopened to the public in 1931.

HOURS

March - October

Monday-Saturday 9am - 4pm

Sunday 12noon - 4pm

November - February

Monday-Saturday 11am - 4pm

Sunday 12 noon - 4pm

Closed: Thanksgiving Day, December 24-25, 31 and January 1

ADMISSION FEES

Heritage Pass – Multisite Admission - $15 - BUY NOW

Adults - $7  Children 6-18 - $3  Children under 6 - free

Discounts for Groups (8+) & AAA Members

Washington Heritage Museums Members Free  - JOIN TODAY

​

PROPERTY HISTORY

ca. 1772 This eighteenth-century building was restored to house the Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop, a museum of medicine, pharmacy, and military and political affairs.  Dr. Mercer served the citizens of Fredericksburg with medicines and treatments of the time. Leeches, lancets, snakeroot, and crab claws made up just some of the remedies. Dr. Mercer practiced medicine for fifteen years in Fredericksburg. His patients included Mary Washington. Dr. Mercer left his practice to join the Revolutionary army and died as a Brigadier General at the Battle of Princeton.

HOURS

March - October

Monday-Saturday 10am - 5pm

Sunday 12noon - 4pm

November - February

Monday-Saturday 11am - 4pm

Sunday 12 noon - 4pm

Closed: Thanksgiving Day, December 24-25, 31 and January 1

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ADMISSION FEES

Heritage Pass – Multisite Admission - $15 - BUY NOW

Adults - $7  Children 6-18 - $3  Children under 6 - free

Discounts for Groups (8+) & AAA Members

Washington Heritage Museums Members Free  - JOIN TODAY

​

PROPERTY HISTORY

ca. 1760 Built by George Washington’s youngest brother Charles around 1760 as his home, this frame building became a tavern in 1792 when it was purchased by the Wallace family.  It operated for 35 years as a stopover for travelers in the bustling port town of Fredericksburg.

Preservation Virginia acquired the Rising Sun Tavern in 1907 and completed a series of restorations including the front porch.  Much of the beautiful woodwork in the tavern is original.  

HOURS

Open during Garden Week in April, the first week of October and by appointment for groups.

ADMISSION FEES

Adults - $5  Children 6-18 - $3  Children under 6 - free

Washington Heritage Museums Members Free  - JOIN TODAY!

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PROPERTY HISTORY

ca. 1760's The St. James' House was built around 1768 and is one of the few eighteenth-century frame houses still standing in Fredericksburg. The house was originally home to James Mercer, an attorney, a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, first judge of the General Court in Fredericksburg, and the attorney who drew up the will for Mary Washington. Mercer built the house on land once owned by Fielding Lewis, brother-in-law of George Washington.
 

The house is particularly noted for the collection of antique furniture and decorative arts assembled by Daniel Breslin and William Tolerton, who restored St. James' in the mid-1960's and bequeathed it, along with an endowment for its perpetual care, to Preservation Virginia.