Hometown Destination

Fredericksburg has a great visitors' center. When you enter old town, head south on Princess Anne until you see a sign for the visitors' center near George Street. There is a great overview movie about the historical nature of the town. Here you can also buy multi-packs of tickets to various town tours and historical sites. These are about for five or so tickets to sites such as the Kenmore Inn, Tavern, Apothecary shop (my favorite), and many other historical sites. Get a walking tour map and enjoy an afternoon. You'll see Mary Washington's home, her sister's home, the Kenmore Inn, and places where George Washington not only slept but also spent many of his days. Many of the sites have greeters in period costumes to welcome you, and they are filled with great relics of days from the the nation's beginning. At Christmas time, many century-old homes now privately owned open their doors for the candlelight tour. Each year, it is held in mid-December. This year, it's the 11th and 12th. In 2005, it will be on December 10th and 11th. With the entire old town area decorated in dainty white lights, it adds to the quaint beauty.

Quick Tips:

www.fredericksburg.com is a great site with a current events and community activities calendar to help you plan your visit. The visitors' center holds a treasure load of great discount coupons and packages.

Best Way To Get Around:

The historical district has horse and carriage tours as well as a trolley tour. I would highly recommend the walking tour, however. You see much more on foot and can enjoy great antique shops, restaraunts, and step through the historical past this great city has to offer. You'll see that the outer doors to older buildings are much smaller than doors on buildings today. You'll also see the cement steps leading up to the doors indented where feet have meandered for centuries now -- things you would miss from a trolley or horse ride.

Early bird specials are Monday to Thursday from 5:30 to 7pm. We always time it right to enjoy the early bird dinner here. The menu changes daily, but this is a great deal. It's a set four-course meal, including a choice of appetizers (the grape leaves or sausage-and-cheese platter are a nice choice), soup or salad, a choice of seven entrees from the regular dinner menu (I love the fish creations they do so well), and their chocolate mousse dessert is wonderful! All of this in a nice garden setting, with attentive service, for $17 per person. You'll love this place.

Guarnjana's is a family owned restaraunt the locals treasure. You'll notice that most of those who enter are greeted by name and enjoy discussing how school is going with Mark and Marsha, their children who work or do their homework at a side table there.

This is absolutely the best Thai food in the area! Very authentic, with a menu to please every taste. The owner is from southern Thailand, where the fish is fresh and fruit is plentiful. You can taste the unique spice blends of this region in her cooking. I love spicy food, but we take the kids (this is their favorite restaraunt), and they like the peanutty and milder garlic dishes. Our favorites are Tom Yum, Pad gah Prow, Gang Pah, and sticky rice with mangos. From garlic and basil to curries and great fish options, your senses will be delighted! The menu is nicely laid out to describe what comes in each dish, and you can let them know if you like it spicy or mild.

It's not in old town but is near the Massaponax area (four-mile fork, if you ask a local), and it's in the same parking lot as Southern States.

Enjoy...

This is a great local dinner theater that has a wonderful menu and fantastic performances! The Scrooge is the current production, showing through December 31st then from January 7th to April 24th, 2005. Brigadoon will start.

You'll enter a grand ballroom area, check your coat, and visit the bar if you wish. You'll then enter the large theater, where there's really not a bad seat in the house. However, if you go with six people, the larger tables are front and center.

You can purchase tickets for either the show or for dinner and a show. We love to make a night of it! The menu offers about four or five choices, including vegetarian, fish, and meat selections. Dinner includes dessert and coffee. If you can get there on a Wednesday or Thursday, you save about $5 on the dinner/theater combo price.

This is a great place for a special night out -- a night you'll remember always.

Caroline Street in downtown is lined with specialty shops and antique treasures. Plan to spend an entire day just walking up and down Caroline Street!

You'll see where the Ben Franklin's once housed wounded soldiers during the civil war when it was used as a hospital.

You may enjoy walking through Goolrich's Pharmacy and sitting on an old stool while enjoying an old-fashioned chocolate shake served in a metal tin cup.

If you like antique shopping, you'll be mesmerized by the choices and huge antique malls lining this street in old buildings that are three stories high and very deep. They are filled to the brim with great furniture and historic relics of days gone by.

The eggman is on Caroline Street. This artisan intricately carves great designs into eggshells. You'll see the eggman at work and be marveled by his creations lining the walls-everything from ostrich eggs to emu eggs and eggs of smaller varieties. I have a filigree design on my dresser that I just love. Check out http://hometown.aol.com/cherukatheeggman/ for a sneak peek at his work!

These are just a few of the wonders you'll discover along Caroline Street. Enjoy the journey!

The Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center is located at the base of historic Marye's Heights on the Fredericksburg battlefield. There are four walking trails that will be mapped out for you here. My favorite is Lee Drive, where you see the fort from where General Lee kept watch over the river. It's a trail that takes you back in time, with large pictures, original trenches, and a great granite pyramid built as a marker along the railway line to note the historical site. If you're interested in civil war history, they also have reenactments periodically that are very nicely done.

The website at http://www.nps.gov/frsp/fburg.htm is the national park website that gives you all the details you will need to plan your visit to this historical area.

Bring a picnic lunch and make a day of the journey through time.

Chatham Manor is a grand plantation home restored to its former great glory. The mansion is now open for tours on weekends.

This thriving plantation was built in the early 1770s. It is a Georgian-style house overlooking the Rappahannock River. The home went through a period of great destruction during the civil war.

Fredericksburg was a disastrous Union defeat. Burnside suffered 12,600 casualties in the battle, many of whom were brought back to Chatham for care. For several days army surgeons operated tirelessly on hundreds of soldiers inside the house. Assisting them were volunteers, including poet Walt Whitman and Clara Barton, who later founded the American chapter of the International Red Cross.

The home was fully restored in the 1920s and willed to the national park system in the 1960s. The gardens are beautifully kept, and it's a great place to enjoy an afternoon.

The website http://www.nps.gov/frsp/chatham.htm offers all of the information you need to plan your visit. The admission is still under $5 per person I believe. This is a treasure of history to explore on your journey to Fredericksburg.