Washington Heritage Museums

10/28/2026

Raise a CUP 🍵—and a GLASS 🍺—with Historian BROOKE BARBIER: Two Special Events—One Historic Day!

On December 1st, Washington Heritage Museums will welcome award-winning author and historian Brooke Barbier to Fredericksburg for two memorable events: a festive Holiday Tea and an intimate Tavern Talk inspired by the food, drink, and personalities of Revolutionary America.

🍵 A HOLIDAY TEA Steeped in History
On Tuesday, December 1, guests can welcome the season during a special afternoon tea surrounded by the Ironclad Inn’s elegant holiday decorations. Seasonal music, fine teas, savory bites, and sweet confections will set a cheerful scene, while Barbier brings the social world of early America to life. In a lively talk, Brooke will reveal how taverns and drinking culture shaped politics, strengthened relationships, fueled the economy, and helped ignite the American Revolution.

🍺TAVERN TALK: Spirits of the Revolution
Later that evening, Brooke will raise a glass at the Rising Sun Tavern! Discover what Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and other notable figures liked to imbibe—and how drink shaped their relationships, political lives, and the Revolution itself. Along the way, find out which revolutionary might have been your ideal drinking companion: Abigail Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, or another storied American.

Designed as an intimate experience for just 24 guests, the program will then move through each room of the Tavern, pairing historic cocktail samples with light faire and short stories about each drink’s significance. Attendees will also have an opportunity to meet Brooke, have their books signed (see book info below) and receive a complimentary Rising Sun Tavern shot glass.

MEET BROOKE BARBIER
Brooke earned her PhD in American history from Boston College and has taught at Boston College and Stonehill College. She founded Ye Olde Tavern Tours in 2013, combining her interests in history and b**r through tours of Boston’s historic sites and taverns. Her books include the award-winning "King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father," "Boston in the American Revolution: A Town Versus an Empire", and her latest work, "Cocked and Boozy, An Intoxicating History of the American Revolution" which explores alcohol’s influence on the founding generation.

Whether you prefer tea and holiday treats or spirited stories served with historic sips, these Washington Heritage Museums programs offer two distinctive ways to experience the past with one of today’s most engaging public historians.

Copies of "Cocked and Boozy" will be available at each event for purchase and signing—perfect for holiday gift giving! To ensure that we have enough copies for everyone, we encourage you to reserve your pre-event copy through our online store (link below). A limited number of books are also available at the Mary Washington House Museum Store.

📕PRE-ORDER Cocked and Boozy Books:
https://bit.ly/CockedandBoozyBooks

🎫Tickets are $70 each and both events will go on sale MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd at 9 a.m.
https://www.washingtonheritagemuseums.org/calendar

10/27/2026

We are pleased to welcome Kaiya Washington, one of our newest site interpreters at the Mary Washington House. Kaiya is a student at the University of Mary Washington, where she majors in history with a concentration in African history and a particular interest in contemporary conflict. She will complete her undergraduate work this December. Through her studies, she hopes to draw greater attention to an often-overlooked region of the world and plans to attend graduate school in the Fall.

When asked what drew her to history, Kaiya reflected, “Growing up in a single-parent household, I often accompanied my mom to work and listened to the adults’ conversations. Those experiences helped me realize that to understand today’s social issues, we need to take a closer look at the past.”

Born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Kaiya has family ties throughout the region, including Caroline County, King George, and Colonial Beach. She also brings experience as a site interpreter at Mount Vernon—and good-naturedly notes that she prefers her commute to the Mary Washington House! When she is not studying or engaging with visitors, Kaiya enjoys reading, attending concerts, and watching dystopian movies.

A guest from Carson City, Nevada, recently sent a heartfelt handwritten note praising Kaiya: “I would like to express my appreciation for a great visit to the Mary Washington House. Our tour guide, Kaiya, did a wonderful job and my mother and I enjoyed our time in Fredericksburg. I will recommend your city to friends and family and look forward to another visit in the future.”

Kaiya is one of our many talented site interpreters whose engaging storytelling brings our shared history to life, and we are delighted to have Kaiya on the team!

10/26/2026

🇺🇸 Join us for FIRST FRIDAY on November 6th at the Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop for "History After Hours: A Revolutionary Evening."

Our special guest is Mark Maloy, author, historian, and Revolutionary War expert, who will appear dressed in a Continental Army soldier’s uniform. Learn more about the Battle of Princeton where Fredericksburg resident Brigadier General Hugh Mercer was mortally wounded while fighting for American independence.

Meet Mark, ask questions, and purchase a signed copy of "Victory or Death: The Battles of Trenton and Princeton." Stop by the Apothecary Shop anytime between 5 and 8 p.m. Make history part of your Friday night!

📅 FIRST FRIDAY, November 6, 2026
🕔 5–8 p.m.
📍 Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop
🎟️ FREE and open to the public!

Emerging Revolutionary War

Fredericksburg Main Street

10/25/2026

10/24/2026

[October 23-29] In late October 1771, George Washington set out from Mount Vernon for Williamsburg, pausing in Fredericksburg for several days along the way. His diary records the trip in practical phrases, yet read together, these entries offer a glimpse of the time, effort, and uncertainty involved in moving through colonial Virginia.

⭐OCTOBER 23, 1771: After dinner set of for Williamsburg and lodgd at Mr. Lawson’s. Left Mr. Smith and Mrs. Barnes at Mt. Vn.
⭐OCTOBER 24, 1771: Reach'd my Mother’s to dinner, and lodgd afterwards at Colo. Lewis's.
⭐OCTOBER 25, 1771: At my Mother’s all day having lost my Horses. Spent ye Eveng, at Weedon’s.
⭐OCTOBER 26, 1771: At Colo Lewis’s all day. Mr. Wormely and others dining there.
⭐OCTOBER 27, 1771: Continued on to Williamsburg having found my Horses. Dined at Caroline Ct. House and lodgd at Hubbard’s.
⭐OCTOBER 28, 1771: Breakfasted at Todd’s bridge, dind at Ruffin’s and lodgd at Colo. Bassett’s.
⭐OCTOBER 29, 1771: Reach’d Williamsburg before Dinner, and went to the Play in the Afternoon.

By October 24th, Washington had reached his mother’s home (Ferry Farm) in time for dinner and later lodged at the home of Fielding and Betty Washington Lewis. The next day, the trip stalled: “At my Mother’s all day having lost my Horses. Spent ye Eveng, at Weedon’s.” This small disruption is one of the most revealing details in the sequence. Even for a prominent planter and public figure, travel depended on animals that could stray and plans that could quickly unravel.

After finding his horses, George Washington continued toward Williamsburg on October 27 and arrived on the 29th. The repeated references to meals and lodging are more than incidental details. They mark distance and progress in a world without interstate highways or hotels.

Historian PAULA S. FELDER places entries like these in a broader pattern. In "George Washington’s Relations and Relationships in Fredericksburg, Virginia" (1981), she notes that,

“The entries pertaining to Fredericksburg reveal not only much about his local relationships but also about his travel habits. The journey from Mount Vernon to Williamsburg took four days each way. The sessions of the House of Burgesses lasted several weeks (during which Washington spent many evenings at Mrs. Campbell's or the Raleigh Tavern). When one considers these lengthy absences, plus the additional travelling to oversee distant plantations and to visit other members of the family, it becomes readily evident that a leader of Washington's rank spent a very great deal of time in transit.” —Paula S. Felder

Seen through Felder’s interpretation, the October 1771 journey shows how leadership in colonial Virginia was sustained by travel—and how the road itself connected Washington’s family life, social world, economic interests, and political responsibilities.

IMAGES:
1) Virginia Map, circa 1761 Thomas Kitchin
2) George Washington as a Colonel in the Virginia Regiment, Charles Willson Peale, 1772
3) Weedon's Tavern on the northeast corner of Caroline and William Streets in Fredericksburg. Artist's recreation, based on early insurance policies, by Philip K. Brown

10/23/2026

10/22/2026

Along the south wall of the Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop, the original 18th-century bricks hold more than history—they preserve the touch of the people who made them.

More than 250 years ago, local brickmakers shaped clay by hand and laid the soft bricks out to dry. When examining the Hugh Mercer Apothecary, this process is still evident in the form of fingerprints preserved in the bricks. Why the bricks were moved to shelter prior to fully drying remains a mystery but perhaps an impending storm was the culprit. Regardless of the reason, the marks survived the firing process—and centuries of weather.

Today, those fingerprints remain visible: a remarkably personal connection to an unknown craftsperson whose hands helped build colonial Fredericksburg. Although we do not know who left these particular marks, brickmaking and construction in colonial Virginia relied heavily on enslaved people and poor free laborers, with indentured and convict servants also contributing. Their labor shaped the buildings—and the history—we preserve today.

Next time you visit the Apothecary Shop, enter through the garden gate and take a close look at the side of the building. You may find yourself face-to-face with a handprint from the past!

Images:
1) Photo of handprint, courtesy of Professor Michael Spencer, Department of Historic Preservation, UMW
2) Another possible handprint on the south wall of the Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop
3) The hand-pressed bricks are arranged in a Flemish bond—a traditional masonry pattern in which every row alternates stretchers, laid lengthwise with the long face showing, and headers, laid short-end first.

10/21/2026

We’re grateful to everyone who attended our special Tea Talk on women in historic preservation—and especially to public historian Amanda Roper for sharing how women have protected America’s historic places and cultural heritage.

From quietly saving letters and wallpaper fragments to leading major fundraising efforts—even before women had the right to vote—women have long worked behind the scenes to safeguard the landmarks, voices, identities, and experiences that connect past and present. Amanda brought this legacy to life through stories of preservation at the Bunker Hill Monument, Charleston’s historic district, Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and the Mary Washington House. We look forward to Amanda’s upcoming book, which will further detail the important story of women’s involvement in America's preservation efforts.

We also extend a heartfelt thank-you to our Tea Talk volunteers for the delicious food and warm hospitality. Volunteers wore pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and created pink-ribbon napkin rings so attendees could tie a ribbon on the Lewis Street fence as part of our Mary’s Ribbons program. 🎀 Thank you for an unforgettable day!

10/19/2026

Work is underway at the Mary Washington Monument site!

10/16/2026

The Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop will be CLOSED on Saturday, October 17th for a very special event. We look forward to welcoming you back on Sunday, October 18th. Wishing Kate and Eric all the best!