Falmouth Historic District

Falmouth is a small river port on the Rappahannock in Stafford County, Virginia, laid out in 1727 on fifty acres belonging to William Todd and governed by seven trustees appointed by the House of Burgesses. The town prospered and for a time rivaled Fredericksburg, serving as an important mercantile center through the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth. By 1845 it had mills, stores and a cotton factory, though its fortunes were declining. The preservation zone takes in frame, brick and stone buildings, most of them plain, including a Customs House, a tavern, the Moncure-Conway House, and the houses Belmont, Carlton and Clearview on the surrounding hills. Belmont was once home to painter Gari Melchers. Route 1 and new commercial buildings at a main intersection have damaged the town, but enough old structures remain to show the character of the port. Its low riverside rows and hilltop houses give Falmouth its identity.