Rising Sun Tavern (Fredericksburg, Virginia)
building in Virginia, United States
The Rising Sun Tavern is a historic building in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was built in about 1760 as a home by Charles Washington, youngest brother of George Washington, and became a tavern in 1792.
History
This house, built by the youngest brother of George Washington, was occupied by the Washington family until about 1780. The property was sold to Larkin Smith in 1791 and in 1792 was bought by Colonel Gustav Wallace who rented the building to Mr. John Frasier, who operated a tavern there. Though the tavern became known as the "Rising Sun Tavern" in the 20th century, it was actually known as the "Golden Eagle" or the "Eagle" in the 1790s. The ordinary at the old Washington family home served travelers into the 1820s under various owners.
The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, which is now called Preservation Virginia, purchased the building in 1907 and it was given to the Fredericksburg branch of that group to operate. In 1933, the Society of Cincinnati hosted a Sesquicentennial celebration on the property and presented Preservation Virginia with a bronze medal in appreciation of their preservation efforts. The building is filled with period furnishings and stories of early life in Fredericksburg.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Rising Sun Tavern (Fredericksburg, Virginia)” as building in Virginia, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as building in Virginia, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14713135. VIAF identifies the subject as 149172091. The Library of Congress control number is n2010161068. Authority coordinates are 38.307, -77.462. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1760, 1792, 1780 and 1791.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Rising Sun Tavern (Fredericksburg, Virginia)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Rising Sun Tavern (Fredericksburg, Virginia) primary sources, Rising Sun Tavern (Fredericksburg, Virginia) archive and Rising research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Rising Sun Tavern (Fredericksburg, Virginia)”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Rising Sun Tavern (Fredericksburg, Virginia)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.