Kenmore, also known as Kenmore Plantation, is a plantation house at 1201 Washington Avenue in

Fredericksburg, Virginia Fredericksburg is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg wi ...

. Built in the 1770s, it was the home of Fielding and

Betty Washington Lewis Elizabeth "Betty" Washington Lewis (June 20, 1733 – March 31, 1797) was an American Colonist. She was the younger sister of George Washington and the only sister that survived childhood. Her half-sister, Jane, died at age 11 and her sister Mildre ...

and is the only surviving structure from the Kenmore

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

. 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 A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

. and 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 Ferry Farm, also known as the George Washington Boyhood Home Site or the Ferry Farm Site, is the farm and home where George Washington spent much of his childhood. The site is located in Stafford County, Virginia, along the northern bank of the Ra ...

, where George Washington lived as a child.

History

The house was completed in 1776 for Fielding and

, 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. 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. Betty's mother

Mary Ball Washington Mary Washington (; born sometime between 1707 and 1709 – August 25, 1789), was the second wife of Augustine Washington, a planter in Virginia, the mother-in-law of Martha Washington, the paternal grandmother of Bushrod Washington, and ...

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 Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Other nineteenth century owners restored the plaster ceilings. During the American Civil War, the plantation house and outbuildings were used as a makeshift Union military hospital after the

Battle of the Wilderness The Battle of the Wilderness was fought on May 5–7, 1864, during the American Civil War. It was the first battle of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Arm ...

in 1864. It was also used by federal troops on their way to Richmond at the close of the war. In 1922 the Kenmore Foundation bought the property and began plans to preserve it. Two flanking dependencies were reconstructed. The landscaping was restored in 1924 by

Charles F. Gillette Charles Freeman Gillette (1886–1969) was a prominent landscape architect in the upper South who specialized in the creation of grounds supporting Colonial Revival architecture, particularly in Richmond, Virginia. He is associated with the res ...

.Library of Virginia: About the Charles F. Gillette Photograph Collection
/ref> Today the house and reconstructed dependencies stand on three acres of ground at 1201 Washington Avenue. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1969 and was designated a

in 1970. It is included in the Washington Avenue Historic District. Kenmore Plantation 2006

References

External links

* * * * *
African American Historic Sites Database
Virginia African Heritage Program {{NRHP in Fredericksburg, Virginia Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia Georgian architecture in Virginia Historic house museums in Virginia Houses completed in 1776 Houses in Fredericksburg, Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Lewis family Museums in Fredericksburg, Virginia National Historic Landmarks in Virginia Plantation houses in Virginia Washington family residences National Register of Historic Places in Fredericksburg, Virginia Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Virginia

History

See also

References

External links