Kenmore Plantation

Col. Fielding Lewis was born in 1725 into a wealthy, Virginia family, the son of Col. John Lewis and Francis Kelding. Col. Fielding Lewis married Catherine Washington, his first wife. After her death, Fielding married again in 1750 at the age of 25 to Elizabeth Washington, known as Betty, who was the sister of George Washington! George Washington and Colonel Lewis throughout their lives, were “business partners, political allies, and military comrades, in addition to being brothers-in-law and second cousins."

About 20 years after Col. Fielding Lewis married Betty, they built this lovely, rather immense brick plantation mansion which sat on an estate of 1,300 acres, just before the start of the Revolutionary War. This was the Lewis family home until 1797. Col Fielding Lewis was a very successful planter, raising tobacco, wheat, and corn on his land, and also had success being a merchant, running a store and a shipyard on the Rappahannock River, and exporting goods to and from England.

After the death of Betty Lewis, Kenmore Plantation was sold in 1797 to a private owner outside the family, a Mr. Barton, the first of many owners. The Gordons bought the plantation in 1819, and continued to make the plantation profitable, as they owned the place up until the outbreak of the Civil War. They are the ones who named the mansion, "Kenmore" after their ancestral home in Scotland. The Gordons also put the slate roof on Kenmore which held up very well throughout the years and is still on this home today. The Gordons also added a stone portico which is still part of the mansion as well.

During the Civil War years, Kenmore Plantation was turned into a Union field hospital during the time when battles were fought in the Fredericksburg area. A soldier who didn't make it past surgery was buried on the grounds, and was found by a crew of construction workers digging up the ground for the new, modern kitchen in December, 1929. He was reburied with a dignified military ceremony at Fredericksburg's National Cemetery where his 15,000 other fallen comrades were laid to rest, about a half century earlier.

William Key Howard, Sr. bought Kenmore Plantation around 1880, which was a real fixer upper opportunity at this point. His artistic son, William K. Howard, Jr., did a good job restoring the Civil War damage done to the mansion and especially the intricate molding on the ceilings, by himself. He even added the same molding to the ceiling in the Passage, which was removed during the 1920s first renovation project done by the Kenmore Association which rescued this property from the clutches of developers.

A descendent, Mr. Clarence R. Howard, sold Kenmore in 1914. In 1919, Kenmore and what was left of its land, a mere 3 acres, wound up in the hands of developer, Mr. Heflin who became sole owner of the property, with plans for new housing. Kenmore was for sale, really in need of restoration, and in real danger of either being torn down or being renovated into apartments. The restoration fire was finally lit by a visit from Mrs. Kate Waller Barrett, Virginia regent of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who inspired the women of Fredericksburg to spearhead a fundraising drive to buy Kenmore, through an organization called the Kenmore Assoc, which later became George Washington’s Fredericksburg Foundation.

Currently, Kenmore is undergoing a multi-year historical restoration project, spearheaded by George Washington's Fredericksburg Foundation. They state on their restoration page on their web-site: "The goal of the Restoration Project is to conserve the fabric of the historic buildings on Kenmore’s property, restore the historic interiors of the house and the kitchen dependency, and upgrade the mechanical systems serving four buildings."


Col Fielding Lewis and his wife Betty were blessed with 11 children. During the Revolutionary War, Col. Lewis was a true patriot, and willing to put his money where his mouth was, until it hurt. He spend most of his fortune on a munitions factory for the ammo needed to fight the British. Because of the war, his export business must have been interrupted, and his local merchant business as well must have suffered economically.

As a result of his noble choices to help the colonist effort and the disruptive realities of war, Fielding felt very pressed financially and worried a lot about paying the bills and supporting his family, on what must have been a tight budget, as the plantation now was the main source of family income. This emotional stress took a toll on his health, as he spent many hours going over his accounts trying to figure out how his family was going to get by. Col Fielding Lewis died in mid-December 1781, at the age of 56, shortly after Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington in October 1781. His family made out ok in the end, and stayed in the house 16 years after his death.