Kenmore Plantation
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Kenmore
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Kenmore Plantation, 2010
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| Location | 1201 Washington Avenue, Fredericksburg, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | 38°18′15″N 77°27′58″W / 38.30417°N 77.46611°WCoordinates: 38°18′15″N 77°27′58″W / 38.30417°N 77.46611°W |
| Area | 1 acre (0.4 ha) |
| Built | 1770s |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| Part of | Washington Avenue Historic District (#02000518) |
| NRHP Reference # | 69000325 |
| VLR # | 111-0047 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | June 4, 1969 |
| Designated NHL | April 15, 1970 |
| Designated CP | May 16, 2002 |
| Designated VLR | November 5, 1968 |
Kenmore, also known as Kenmore Plantation, is a plantation house at 1201 Washington Avenue in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Built in the 1770s, it was the home of Fielding and Betty Washington Lewis and is the only surviving structure from the 1,300-acre (530 ha) Kenmore plantation. Betty was the sister of George Washington, the first president of the United States.
The house is architecturally notable for the remarkable decorative plaster work on the ceilings of many rooms on the first floor. In 1970 the property was declared a National Historic Landmark.
Kenmore is owned and operated as a house museum by The George Washington Foundation (formerly George Washington's Fredericksburg Foundation), and is open daily for guided tours. The Foundation also owns nearby Ferry Farm, where George Washington lived as a child.
The house was completed in 1776 for Fielding and Betty Washington Lewis, the sister of George Washington. He was a planter and successful merchant in town. Their plantation grew tobacco, wheat, and corn by the labor of slaves. More than 80 slaves worked on the 1300-acre plantation, including a number of domestic slaves. The mansion's rear frontage was oriented to the Rapahannock River for easy transportation access.
Betty's mother Mary Ball Washington was buried on the grounds, which she had liked to visit. Lewis descendants sold the house and property in 1797 after Betty Washington Lewis' death. A memorial was erected in 1894 at the Mary Ball Washington gravesite.
The Samuel Gordon family purchased the property in 1819. They named it Kenmore for the home of their ancestors in Scotland. Other nineteenth century owners restored the plaster ceilings.
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