Visitor Information

The Fredericksburg Visitor Center, 706 Caroline St. (at Charlotte St.), Fredericksburg, VA 22401 (tel. 800/678-4748 or 540/373-1776; fax 540/372-5687), offers free maps, many restaurant menus, and walking tour brochures of downtown and following the 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg. It also shows a 14-minute video which will get you oriented, gives out free all-day parking passes (you can leave your car in the center's lot all day), and sells a block ticket to the major sites. The center is open Memorial Day to Labor Day, daily from 9am to 7pm; the rest of the year, 9am to 5pm. Closed New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

On the southwestern edge of town, on U.S. 1 at Exit 126 off I-95, the Spotsylvania County Visitor Center, 4704 Southpointe Pkwy., Fredericksburg, VA 22407 (tel. 800/654-4118 or 540/891-6670), specializes in surrounding attractions. It's in the Southpointe Shopping Center and is open daily from 9am to 5pm. A small Civil War museum and gift shop also share the space.

There also is a Virginia Welcome Center at Mile 130 on southbound I-95.

Money-Saving Passes -- Make your first stop in town the Fredericksburg Visitor Center, which is housed in a historic 1824 house on Caroline Street at Charlotte Street. Here you can see a 14-minute video on Fredericksburg's colonial history and get a pass for free parking anywhere in the city (including lots beside the center and across the street). Except for Belmont and Chatham, which are across the river, the historic sights are within walking distance of the visitor center.

The visitor center sells a Pass to Historic Fredericksburg which includes admission to Belmont, Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center, Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop, James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library, Kenmore, Mary Washington House, The Rising Sun Tavern, and George Washington's Ferry Farm. It's $29 for adults, $9.50 for students 6 to 18. Or if time is short, you can pick any four attractions plus George Washington's Ferry Farm for $18 adults, $7 for students. Either way, those are substantial savings off individual admissions.

Note: The admission prices given in the listings are to the individual properties without a block ticket. Most of the block-ticket attractions are closed New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, and December 24, 25, and 31.

Getting There

By Car -- Depending on the volume of traffic, Fredericksburg is about an hour from Richmond or Alexandria via I-95. To reach Old Town from I-95, take Exit 130A and follow Va. 3 east. Bear left on William Street (Va. 3 Business).

There are no parking meters in Fredericksburg but many on-street spaces are limited to 2 hours, so be sure to get a free all-day pass from the visitor center.

By Plane -- The nearest airports are Ronald Reagan Washington National, Washington Dulles International.

By Train -- Fredericksburg's Amtrak station (tel. 800/872-7245) is at Lafayette Boulevard and Princess Anne Street, on the southern edge of Old Town, 3 blocks from the Fredericksburg Visitor Center.

Virginia Railway Express (tel. 800/743-3843 or 703/497-7777) operates early-morning, midday, and late-afternoon rail links between the Fredericksburg Amtrak station and Union Station in Washington, D.C., with stops at Arlington (Crystal City), Alexandria, Lorton, Woodbridge, Quantico, and Stafford. The fare from Alexandria to Fredericksburg is about $7 (with discounts for children, seniors, and people with disabilities).