There is a self-guided tour that provides a lot of the history and archaeology of the place - not just colonial, but Civil War too. This was the site of an encampment by the northern troops, and the location of one of the pontoon bridges during the Battle of Fredericksburg. You can walk down the old ferry road to visit the site of the pontoon bridge and view Fredericksburg across the river much as the Civil War soldiers and George Washington would have seen it. It's hard to imagine that, in the 1700s, this now placid river was filled with sailing ships bringing in goods from Europe and shipping out tobacco. Standing on the bank, one can try to look through Washington's boyhood eyes and think about the possibility of throwing a rock all the way across as he did (I couldn't!).

There's also a very nice garden here with plants that would have been grown in Washington's time. If you want to learn some things about the boy who became a legend, this is a great place to visit. If you have kids, they can run off a lot of energy here too! There are a couple of short, easy hiking trails, and if you're lucky, quite a lot of wildlife to see (especially birds). There are picnic tables too if you want to bring your lunch.

George Washington lived in the Ferry Farm from the age of six to twenty. He inherited Ferry Farm from his father when he was 11. On Christmas Eve of 1740 the "home house" as George Washington would call Ferry Farm burned and his father build a new one. Although he lived most of his formative years in Ferry Farm after his half elder brother Lawrence died George Washington inherited Mount Vernon, then called Little Hunting Creek, and resided there while keeping his mother in charge of Ferry Farm. Finally, after buying his mother a house in Fredericksburg, he sold Ferry Farm in 1774.

Our visit started with visiting the exhibition center situated in visitors center, and then followed by taking a self-guided tour. There was not much to see in the grounds, except couple of closed buildings and excavation sites. While we were visiting there was no excavation, but we were told that there was going to be an excavation that Wednesday. We followed the steps to the Rappahannock River , which also played an important role in Civil War. Artillery of the Union Army was situated at the slopes and a few yards farther was where Union Army built a pontoon bridge in the Battle of Fredericksburg and the Second Battle of Fredericksburg.

When we visited, I guess due to the rains, the river was muddy, people were canoeing in groups and a Ferry was having a cruise on the river. Another story about Washington was that he was able to throw stones to the other side of the river. I challenged my husband to throw a stone to the other side of the river; a challenge many civil war soldiers took upon without success. I learned that the civil war was the cause of demise of the Ferry Farm house. First, it was used as headquarters to the Union Army, later it was dismantled and used as a source of fire.

Admission is $3 for adults, $ 1.50 for kids. We looked for cherry trees hoping there may be offsprings of that very famous tree, but no luck.