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 KENMORE - Fredericksburg, VA Posted by:  vhasler
N 38° 18.235 W 077° 28.012
18S E 284296 N 4242415
Home of George Washington's sister
Waymark Code: WM9YBX
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 10/16/2010
Views: 6
KENMORE (open 9-6 daily, adm. $0.50, Washington Ave. between Lewis and Fauquier Sts., was the home of George Washington's sister, Betty Washington Lewis. Set among tall trees in a walled yard, the two-story red brick house with its low water table of molded brick stands between a pair of detached wings. The gabled roof is pierced by two square built-in end chimneys. The simply framed entrance doors are surmounted by rectangular transoms. Over the rear door a modest portico with four Tuscan columns faces the garden, which has been restored with the box-bordered walk that led to Mary Washington's house.
The fine mahogany stairway in the entrance hall is adorned with a carved lotus motif, and the tall clock standing here belonged to Mary Washington. The reassembled gun over the door at the left is the only firearm extant known to have come from the Fielding Lewis Gunnery, where it was made in 1781. Through this door is the dining room with ceiling, mantel, and cornice elaborately ornamented in putty stucco. Portraits by John Wollaston of Colonel Fielding Lewis and of his wife, Betty Washington, hang in this room. The end of the hall opens into the parlor or ' great room. The rich plaster ornament of the ceiling, from which a fine Waterford crystal chandelier is suspended, includes four horns of plenty. Above the handsome carved mantel, which is supported on classic consoles, is a panel framed with Georgian c dog-ear ' trim and embellished with a delicate plaster bas-relief representing Aesop's fable of the fox and crow. The subject of this decoration is said to have been suggested by Washington, and the work seems authentically to have been that of Hessian prisoners. The ceilings were executed by a man whom Washington called ' that Frenchman. The house is filled with furniture and relics, many of which belonged to the Washington or Lewis family; some are gifts or loans from the Metropolitan Museum.
The four panels of the ceiling in the library represent the four seasons with palm, grape, acorn, and mistletoe. The over-mantel panel frames a decorative basket of flowers and festoon in plaster relief. The bedrooms upstairs are furnished chiefly with heirlooms.
On a plantation of 86.1 acres purchased from Richard Wyat Royston, Fielding Lewis began to build in 1752 for his second bride, 19-year-old Betty Washington, the only sister of George to reach maturity; but the house was not complete in detail until after 1777. Before that, Millbank, as it was then called, had become a center of political and social life. Washington frequently recorded visits here.
Colonel Lewis was an earnest patriot. He wrote resolutions, endorsed by a large gathering in Fredericksburg, commending Patrick Henry's resistance to Governor Dunmore. He fitted out three regiments at his own expense and built a ship, the Dragon, for the ' Virginia Navy.' As chief commissioner for the manufacturing of small arms in Fredericksburg, he used his own money when public funds ran out. When he died in 1782, he left a debt of 7,000 and a mortgage on Millbank.
Mrs.Lewis continued to live here until she sold the house in 1796. Early in the nineteenth century it was bought by the Gordon family, who changed its name to Kenmore. It served as a hospital and military headquarters during the War between the States, when it was considerably damaged, and later it housed a boys' academy.
In 1922 a band of women formed the Kenmore Association to save the house from being pulled down, and raised the money for its purchase and restoration. Woodwork, ceilings, nearly all hardware, and floors are original. The dependencies were completely reconstructed upon excavated foundations. In the kitchen a Negro 'mammy' serves tea and gingerbread to visitors.
---- Virginia - A Guide to the Old Dominion State, 1940.
The historical home is still open for tours, which are now offered:
March through October, daily, 10AM to 5PM
November and December, daily, 10AM to 4PM
Closed Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Day, and New Years Eve.
The cost is now $8 Adults, $4 Students, and Under 6 free. The current price is equivalent to the $0.50 offered in 1940 using the Consumer Price Index, which escalates it to $7.65 over the years.
Book: Virginia
Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 224-225
Year Originally Published: 1940
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