Kenmore
VA - Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA
1201 Washington Ave, Fredericksburg, VA, USA
MUSEUM
VISITOR INFORMATION
TICKET REQUIRED
Entry is $15 for adults and $6 for students age 6 and up; children under 5 are free. Full hours run Mar through Oct, Mon to Sat 10am-5pm and Sun 12-5pm; hours are reduced in Nov and Dec, and the site is closed in Jan and Feb.
Free parking is available on Washington Avenue.
SITE FEATURES
Gardens
Surviving Structures
Peak visitation season unconfirmed. No reliable site-specific monthly attendance pattern was established.
April-May or October for a booked house tour and gardens beyond summer heat. Confirm the current public day, departure and holiday exclusions.
HISTORIC SITES NEARBY
Nearby Historic Sites
miles
Landmark
WHO WAS HERE
7
George Washington
Martha Washington
Mary Ball Washington
Fielding Lewis
Charles Washington
Betty Washington Lewis
Samuel Washington
About Kenmore
The house was completed in 1776 for Fielding and Betty Washington Lewis, the sister of George Washington. He was a planter and successful merchant in town. Their plantation grew tobacco, wheat, and corn by the labor of slaves.[5] The Lewises enslaved more than 80 people on the 1300-acre plantation, including a number of domestic slaves. The mansion's rear frontage was oriented to the Rapahannock River for easy transportation access.
The original Georgian mansion remains the plantation's principal surviving building. The George Washington Foundation cares for its plasterwork, furnished rooms, gardens, and archaeology; reconstructed outbuildings help interpret the wider estate.
History happened here at Kenmore
Betty's mother Mary Ball Washington was buried on the grounds, which she had liked to visit. Lewis descendants sold the house and property in 1797 after Betty Washington Lewis' death. A memorial was erected in 1894 at the Mary Ball Washington gravesite.
The Samuel Gordon family purchased the property in 1819. They named it Kenmore for the home of their ancestors in Scotland. Other nineteenth century owners restored the plaster ceilings.
PEOPLE WHO LIVED HERE
Fielding Lewis
Betty Washington Lewis
PEOPLE WHO DIED HERE
PEOPLE AT REST HERE
EXTERNAL LINKS
George Washington Foundation, Historic Kenmore: https://kenmore.org/visit-historic-kenmore/
Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Kenmore: https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/111-0047/
Library of Congress, Kenmore HABS survey: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/va1073/
National Park Service, Kenmore in Battle of Fredericksburg: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/kenmore-in-the-battle-of-fredericksburg.htm
George Washington Foundation, archaeology: https://kenmore.org/archaeology/