Plans are underway to enhance the Mary Washington Monument, making it more accessible and engaging for visitors. A community celebration will mark this milestone for the first American memorial erected by women to a woman.
Washington Heritage Museums, which owns and maintains the monument, along with the adjoining Caretaker’s Lodge, will host “A Monumental Celebration Honoring America’s First Mother” from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, May 4. The monument is located at 1500 Washington Ave., in the heart of downtown Fredericksburg.
“This monument is a lasting tribute to Mary Washington, mother of our first president. Since its 1894 dedication — attended by President Grover Cleveland — it has been an important memorial to the woman who played such a pivotal role in America’s early days,” Anne Darron, executive director of Washington Heritage Museums, said in a press release. “On May 4, we celebrate its next chapter.”
Barbara A. Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia, will deliver the keynote address. Daughters of the American Revolution First Vice President General Ginnie Storage and Fredericksburg Mayor Kerry Devine will also address the audience, along with other local leaders.
The event will kick off with a 2 p.m. procession around the historic Washington Avenue mall that will include vintage cars and area marching bands. Garden gates will open immediately following the procession, and the speakers program will begin at 3 p.m.
A wreath-laying ceremony will be modeled after a similar event in 1954, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower visited Fredericksburg. And just like that year’s festivities, the United States Marine Corps Band will perform.
The event marks the culmination of a $1.6 million capital campaign to preserve and support the Mary Washington Monument site and legacy. The campaign has been led by co-chairs Kelly Johnson and Rennie McDaniel and honorary chair Gail Braxton.
The campaign now enters the action phase with Washington Heritage Museums partnering with FIELD Design, led by landscape designer Sally Harman.
Harman will create a design to include ADA-accessible walkways, slope stabilization, improved lighting and historic interpretation and features such as hardscaped areas that will make the monument an attractive space for small events in a park-like setting. Much of the design work to improve the interior of the Caretaker’s Lodge has already been completed by Andrea Hickman Meleski of A.HICKMAN Design.
The event is free to the public. To register and learn more about it, visit bit.ly/MonumentalCelebration. If accessible accommodations are needed, please note that when making your registration. Parking is available at Common Ground Christian Church, 1501 Washington Ave.
