"While the fundamental purpose of the park is historical education, its program is by no means confined to this limitation. It offers important recreational and educational features aside from critical military history. The Jackson Memorial Wild Flower Preserve ... affords excellent instruction in botany.... The deep woodlands of the area threaded with foot trails leading along the old trenches are a delight to lovers of the outdoors...."
Kenmore—1752
Kenmore, the home of Fielding Lewis and Betty Washington Lewis (George Washington's only sister), is an outstanding example of the architecture of Colonial Virginia. It is also intimately connected with the stirring history of Colonial times and with the life of George Washington.
Augustine Washington, about 1739, moved from Hunting Creek to Ferry Farm, across the river from Fredericksburg, with his second wife, Mary Ball, and their five children—George, Betty, Samuel, John Augustine, and Charles—for the sake of community life and the religious and educational advantages it offered. Here the children grew up and received their education—Betty at a "Dame School," George under the tutelage of Parson Marye. Betty and George were especially intimate companions because of their nearness of age and their similarity in personality and character.
When Betty was sixteen, and a "mannerly young maid," her cousin Fielding Lewis came seeking her hand in marriage. Lewis had come up from Gloucester three years previously with his wife and son. Mrs. Lewis died in 1749. Shortly thereafter, Fielding started courting young Betty. They were married in 1750, the bride being given away by her brother George, and for a time they lived on a plantation adjoining Ferry Farm. In 1752 Lewis bought 861 acres of land, adjacent to Fredericksburg, the survey being made by George Washington, who had been appointed government surveyor in 1748. On this land, with its fine view of the countryside, Lewis built Kenmore (called Millbrook at the time) in accordance with a promise he had made to his bride.
As time went on, Fielding Lewis became closely associated with the political life of Virginia. He was a member of the House of Burgesses for many years. He also served in the French and Indian War and was Colonel of the Spotsylvania County Militia. It is said that the resolution endorsing Patrick Henry in his resistance to the tyranny of Governor Dunmore, passed by the Committee of 600 in the Rising Sun Tavern in Fredericksburg, was written by him in the Great Room of his home, Kenmore, a paper which for all intents and purposes was a declaration of independence.
Colonel Lewis was best known for the part he played in the War of Independence. In 1776 he became Chairman of the Virginia Committee of Safety. Previously, in 1775, the Virginia Assembly had passed an ordinance providing for a "Manufactory of Small Arms in Fredericksburg, Virginia." Five commissioners were appointed to undertake this project, but Colonel Lewis and Charles Dick were the only two who took an active part in the work. They were allotted £2,500 with which to secure land, buildings and equipment. Soon thereafter they were at work manufacturing arms. The first £2,500 were quickly spent, and Lewis and Dick were obliged to draw from their own funds to carry on. Lewis advanced an additional £7,000 and borrowed £30,000 to £40,000 more. Lewis also built a ship for the Virginia Navy, The Dragon, and equipped three regiments. Kenmore was heavily mortgaged to meet the costs of all these patriotic enterprises. When Lewis died in 1781, little of the estate was left.
Thereafter, Betty Lewis tried conducting a small boarding school at Kenmore, but again money had to be raised and piece after piece of the land was sold to obtain it. Finally, in 1796, the mansion and its contents were sold and Betty Lewis went to live with her daughter. She died the next year.
After many vicissitudes in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Kenmore was saved for posterity, in 1922, through the great enthusiasm and hard work of a group of women who later formed the Kenmore Association. Through the efforts of this association, the exterior and the interiors of Kenmore were expertly restored to their original charming appearance and it has been furnished with original pieces of the period, many of which have an actual connection with the family.