Fish Fountain - Fredericksburg VA - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

A lead fish fountain shoots water out of its mouth in a pool in the gardens at Chatham Manor across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg, VA. The fish emerges straight up from a wave in the center of a concrete pond with his tail curled up behind him. The sculptor is unknown and no date is listed.

Chatham Manor was originally built in the late 1700s. It went through several owners and changes over the next 150 years, including devastating damage during the Civil War, until the 1920s when Daniel and Helen Devore bought the property and began its restoration. They hired a landscape architect who designed ornate gardens with statues and pools. A small pool with a fish fountain was installed in the NW corner of the walled gardens next to a summer house.

When John Lee and Lillian Pratt bought the property from the Devores in 1931, they removed the concrete pond.¹

The National Park Service acquired Chatham in 1976. Many of the lawn ornaments and statues were put up for auction since the NPS only considered structures prior to 1863 to be of historical significance. In the 1980s, the NPS decided to restore the garden and its accoutrements. The Park Service's regional landscape architect, Reed Engle, duplicated the fountain based on old photos. The fish statue is not an exact copy of the original, but it is very close.²

Chatham is open daily from 9 AM to 4:30 PM. Admission is free.

¹ Chatham a landscape introduction, pg. 85
² Ibid.

References:

• Gardens lost in time « HORTUS 2
• Chatham a landscape introduction

TITLE: (Fish Fountain) ARTIST(S): Unknown DATE: Not listed MEDIUM: Lead CONTROL NUMBER: IAS VA000058 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: Garden of Chatham next to the summer house: 120 Chatham Lane Fredericksburg, VA 22405 DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: No date listed, but fountain installed during NPS garden restoration in the mid-1980s.

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