{"nrhp_refnum":"66000919","name":"Rising Sun Tavern","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1306 Caroline St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fredericksburg (Independent City)","county":"Fredericksburg","state":"VA","lat":38.30672793100007,"lon":-77.46190780066947,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1964-01-29","areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Communications"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half story frame tavern at 1306 Caroline Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia, built around 1760 by Charles Washington, youngest brother of George Washington.","why_significant":"The tavern was a favorite stopover for southern statesmen traveling to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. In 1777 George Mason, George Wythe, Edmund Pendleton, Thomas Lee and Thomas Jefferson outlined here the bill that became the Statute of Virginia for Religious Liberty. The 1781 Peace Ball celebrating the Yorktown victory was held in its assembly room.","narrative":"Built around 1760 by Charles Washington, youngest brother of George Washington, this one-and-a-half story frame tavern at 1306 Caroline Street in Fredericksburg is covered with broad hand-beveled clapboards and has a gabled roof with three small dormers and end chimneys. Inside, the banquet room has a paneled corner fireplace and a built-in cupboard. The tavern served southern statesmen traveling to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. In 1777, George Mason, George Wythe, Edmund Pendleton, Thomas Lee and Thomas Jefferson outlined here the bill that Jefferson later phrased as the Statute of Virginia for Religious Liberty. In 1781 the assembly room, since lost to fire, hosted the Peace Ball celebrating victory at Yorktown. The inn stopped operating as a business before the Civil War. The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities bought it in 1907 and restored it. It is now a museum with late 18th century furnishings and an open public schedule.","period_of_significance":"1760-c. 1781","architect_builder":"Charles Washington","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Excellent condition, extensively restored, and open to the public as a museum; owned by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, which bought it in 1907.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.327067-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/31/6790/41679031/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/66000919_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000919/462ba5d2db-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000919/462ba5d2db-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Morgan Riley","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RisingSunTavern_March2011.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Morgan Riley</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RisingSunTavern_March2011.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679031","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Sun_Tavern_(Fredericksburg,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713135"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/fredericksburg/rising-sun-tavern-66000919/"}