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Sightseeing
Tours start at the Fredericksburg Visitor Center 706 Caroline St. in old town
Fredericksburg Virginia is America's most historic city. Enjoy an entertaining and informative tour of Fredericksburg aboard the trolley. Learn about the many famous and interesting people and events that have taken place since the city was established in 1728. If you listen closely, you may even pick up a few amusing and not-so-well known facts about the people and places that you will see along the way! The kind of things you won't learn just walking around on your own. After your tour, you will have a better idea of the local history and the many attractions Fredericksburg has to offer. You will also have a better idea of where you want to start as you go back to visit the many living history museums, homes and businesses of people like George Washington, Mary Washington, James Monroe, Rising Sun Tavern, Fredericksburg's only proper tavern and the former home of Charles Washington, Dr. Hugh Mercer's apothecary shop, the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center, Kenmore Plantation and many more.
In the formative years of his life, the first President and Father of Our Country, George Washington, lived just across the Rappahannock River, a "stones throw" from the city where George attended school and church. George's mother, sister and brother had homes in Fredericksburg, many of which are maintained by various historic organizations and are open to the public for tours by very knowledgeable guides and docents.
See and hear about the monuments to Thomas Jefferson, who in 1777 gathered with his colleagues in Fredericksburg and drafted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, a document so powerful that it ultimately led to the religious freedoms in the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
Visit the museum and memorial library of our fifth president, James Monroe, who lived and worked in the city as a prominent attorney for many years before being elected President and continuing on to be elected to many other important public offices both locally and across our nation.
In the 1860's, four major battles of the Civil War were fought within 15 miles of the city of Fredericksburg. In 1862, the Battle of Fredericksburg was fought in and around the downtown historic district of the city. Your tour will include detailed accounts of the fighting here and the surrounding area. You will have a chance to view, first hand, many of the homes, churches and buildings used by both Confederate and Union fighting forces during these battles, many of which still bare the scars of the civil war.
Your tour will take you back through time. From the days when the Native Americans hunted and farmed the area through the arrival of settlers from Jamestown, Yorktown and other far away lands in the 1600s, and on through the birth of our Nation and its growing pains during the time of the Civil War.
During your 75 minute guided tour of the Historic District and Fredericksburg Battlefield, you will experience the past, present and future of a city so rich in history and teeming with historic monuments, markers and historic attractions for all ages, as well as many unique shops and restaurants still operating in buildings hundreds of years old!
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