Washington Avenue neighborhood (Fredericksburg, Virginia)

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This residential neighborhood was once part of the 863-acre Kenmore Plantation. For years the only house was the Lewis mansion which was built in 1752. Located on the plantation and not far from the Lewis home was a ledge of rocks looking westward over a small valley. This was a favorite spot of Mary Washington, mother of Betty Washington Lewis, and she asked to be buried there. In 1833 a monument to Mary Washington at her grave site was partially built, but was not completed. In 1851 the town of Fredericksburg expanded its boundaries to include this area. Until 1889 the "Kenmore Plain" was only open farmland with the Lewis house and the unfinished monument.

Two events happened that were to change the character of "Kenmore Plain". One event was the advertisement in February 1889 of the auction sale of Mary Washington's grave and the other event was the chartering in 1890 of the Fredericksburg Development Company. The uproar created by the proposed sale of Mary Washington's grave caused a movement to buy the grave site and to renew efforts to complete or rebuild a new monument to Mary Washington. The women of the nation were urged to unite and save the grave site.

The Fredericksburg Development Company bought part of the Kenmore tract on the west side opposite the Lewis house between the cemetery and Mary Washington grave and subdivided the tract into lots. By 1900 ten new houses were built facing the newly created Washington Avenue. Fourteen more houses were built on the Avenue by 1917. One house was built in 1925 and the last, in 1951.

In 1891 the Fredericksburg Town Council at the request of the National Mary Washington Monument Association approved plans for a 150 foot wide avenue with a parallel roadway and center grass plot to extend from Lewis Street to the Mary Washington grave and the new street was appropriately named Mary Washington Avenue. Over the years the name was shortened to Washington Avenue.