Rebecca Allen (left), Chloe Trick (center) and Aurora Trick look at old gravestones in the Gordon Cemetery on Washington Avenue in Fredericksburg. City cemeteries draw lots of interest from tourists and local history buffs. Photos by SKY GILBAR/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Sandra Piercey, in colonial dress, walks through St. George's Cemetery at the Episcopal church in Fredericksburg. Many prominent local citizens from Colonial times are buried there. Photos by SKY GILBAR/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Trip Wiggins, in 1770s-period clothing, leads one of the fourth annual Fredericksburg cemetery tours on Sunday. The tours are sponsored by the Rappahannock Colonial Heritage Society. Photos by SKY GILBAR/THE FREE LANCE-STAR

The annual Fredericksburg Historic Cemetery Tour takes a look at downtown Fredericksburg's oldest cemeteries

Date published: 10/30/2006

By JEFF BRANSCOME

In just under two hours, a dozen or so trolley passengers on Sunday learned the stories behind some of Fredericksburg's oldest gravestones.

This go-around of the Fredericksburg Historic Cemetery Tour--which ran all weekend--mainly attracted folks from the area.

But they paid their respects to some worldly people, such as a former secretary to the king of Poland--Lewis Littlepage.

Littlepage died in 1802 and is buried in the Masonic Cemetery on Charles Street, one of three stops during yesterday's tour. The group also visited St. George's Church Cemetery and the Gordon Cemetery, established in the 1700s.

"Most people in this town that have lived here their whole life, in fact, don't know about the people who lived here before them," said Trip Wiggins, who has organized the tour for the past four years.

The Rappahannock Colonial Heritage Society sponsored the annual event, which focused more on history than on Halloween.

"They're studying this stuff in school, so you can never learn too much," said Jodie Allen of Stafford, who brought along five children.

All of the cemeteries boasted a number of headstones that looked like concrete coffins. Nothing is inside them, a tour guide assured children.

Tour guide Lyn Padgett pointed out some of the war dead buried at the Masonic Cemetery, a highlight for 12-year-old Logan Young of Stafford.

"I liked learning about all the war people and just that we honor them that much," he said.

At least two people connected to an 1807 downtown fire are also interred there--Isabella Roberts and Benjamin May. Roberts died during the blaze and May raised money to help restore the ruins.

It's also the resting place of Christiana Campbell, who ran a famous tavern in Williamsburg. In fact, George Washington frequented the establishment, Padgett said.

Speaking of the first president, participants stood at the grave site of Mary Washington, where a monument was erected in her honor. It took 61 years to build and was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland in 1894.

But not all of the cemeteries mentioned during the tour still exist. The trolley passed by Maury Stadium and Hurkamp Park, the sites of former burial grounds, Wiggins said.

He said the Caldwell Banker Building on William Street sits on a former cemetery. That's why it doesn't have a basement.

"We need to get ghost hunters to come to Fredericksburg and film a special," Wiggins quipped.

Between 1728 and 1990, less than 5,000 headstones popped up in the city, Wiggins said. But during a similar period, local newspapers filed 100,000 death notices.

"There could be 95,000 other spirits out there still seeking attention," he said at the end of the tour.

To reach JEFF BRANSCOME:540/374-5402
Email: jbranscome@freelancestar.com

Date published: 10/30/2006