The History of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia

by S. J. Quinn

AGRICULTURAL FAIRS.

We have no means of ascertaining where the fairs previously referred to were held or how long they were continued under the act of 1769, or any similar act that might have been passed by the Legislature after Virginia became a State. In the first of the nineteenth century an agricultural fair was held on the Kenmore farm, near the Kenmore building. The gate leading to the grounds was on Lewis street, where it intersects with Winchester street. The stock was exhibited on the fair grounds and the ladies’ department was kept on the upper floor of the present city hall.

At one time Mr. Samuel Gordon, then proprietor of Kenmore, was president of the association, who was succeeded by Hon. James M. Garnett, of Essex county. It was the custom of this association to have an address by the president on the first night of the exhibition on agriculture and stock raising, which was one of the main features of the fair, and drew together a large number of farmers and others to hear it.

A silver cup, awarded to Mr. Jacob Gore for the best wheat fan exhibited at one of these fairs, is now in possession of Police Officer Charles A. Gore, a grandson of Mr. Jacob Gore. It is in a good state of preservation, the inscription on it being “Presented by the Fredericksburg Agricultural Society, 1823.” On the left of the inscription is a wheat fan, beautifully engraved, near which is the letter J, which stands for Jacob, and on the right is another fan, near which is the letter G, standing for Gore. We do not know when these annual fairs ceased.

About the year 1850, possibly a little earlier, fair grounds were laid out on Green House Hill, covering most of that part of the town where Prof. A. B. Bowering now lives. A Mr. White, of Caroline county, was the first president, Mr. W. N. Wellford succeeding him to that office. The first steam engine for threshing wheat ever seen in this country was exhibited at one of these fairs by the Hope Foundry, of this place, then operated by Messrs. Scott and Herndon. It was constructed by Mr. Benjamin Bowering, foreman of the works. A committee of farmers was appointed to examine it and report upon its merits. After witnessing its work the committee condemned it, because “it would burn all the wheat up.” Fairs were held on these grounds about three years.

A year or so after the Green House Hill fair grounds were closed, the grounds on which Major W. S. Embrey now lives and those in front of him for some distance east of Spotswood street were purchased and converted into fair grounds. Very successful fairs were held there until the commencement of the Civil war, when they were closed. The last fair held on these grounds was in 1860, only a few months before hostilities actually commenced. At one time Major J. Horace Lacy was president of this society and Major J. Harrison Kelly was secretary.

After the closing of the fair grounds, in 1860, Fredericksburg had no other fair for twenty-five years. In 1887 steps were taken by the citizens of the town to inaugurate annual fairs. A charter for a society was obtained, stock was subscribed for and the Amaret farm, on the Fall Hill road west of the town and bordering on the Rappahannock river, was purchased and converted into excellent fair grounds. The society inaugurating these fairs is known as the Rappahannock Valley Agricultural and Mechanical Society, and its annual fairs have been a great success. The presidents of the society from its organization have been Hon. A. P. Rowe, of Fredericksburg; Charles Pierson, Esq., of Caroline county; Hon. S. Wellford Corbin, of King George county; Mr. Oliver Eastburn, of Spotsylvania county; Frank W. Smith, of Spotsylvania county; Captain Terence McCracken, of Fredericksburg; Colonel E. Dorsey Cole, of Fredericksburg; Capt. M. B. Rowe, of Spotsylvania; Chas. H. Hurkamp, of Stafford; Henry Dannehl, of Fredericksburg, and Thomas F. Morrison, of Spotsylvania.

FERRIES AND TOLL BRIDGES.

The first ferry across the Rappahannock river, provided by law, was an act of the House of Burgesses passed in 1748. This act provided for a ferry from the Fredericksburg warehouse, where the tobacco was deposited and inspected by public, bonded inspectors, to the land of Anthony Strother, on the Stafford side of the river. The charge for a horse, which seems to have been the only one regulated by law, was fixed at three pence. In the year 1796 a petition was presented to the General Assembly of Virginia for leave to build a toll-bridge across the Rappahannock river from the lower line of the land of William Fitzhugh, of Chatham. The Legislature granted the request and Mr. Fitzhugh built the bridge, which was kept open for the public travel as a toll-bridge until 1889.

This bridge has been destroyed several times, some times by floods and at other times by fire, and has been rebuilt, but the dates of its destruction have passed from the minds of our oldest citizens. The only dates that can be given, with anything like accuracy, are, that in 1820 it was destroyed by a great flood, in 1861 by fire, in accordance with military orders, and in 1889 by another great flood. In 1890 the city purchased the site and constructed the present iron bridge, which is about one thousand feet long. On its completion it was opened to free travel and has been continued such to the present time. It was at first a toll-bridge and owned by private parties for nearly a century, and yet so far as we can discover there have been but three owners up to the time it was purchased by the city. These three were William Fitzhugh, Esq., Judge John Coulter and Charles S. Scott.