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>> THE OLD STONE WAREHOUSE DOWNTOWN HOSTS AN ART SHOW OF 'RIVER VIEWS' ART, HISTORY MERGE IN STONE

October 2, 2008 12:16 am

BY SUSANNAH CLARK

Now home to a museum and art gallery, the Old Stone Warehouse in downtown Fredericksburg was once a storage place for casualties of the Civil War.

"Three hundred and twenty-six bodies of dead Union soldiers were stacked on this floor like cordwood after the Battle of Fredericksburg," said Jack Edlund, manager of the Old Stone Warehouse.

Edlund's paintings, along with photography by his friend Christopher Ford, are on display in the Unknown Gallery of the Old Stone Warehouse in a show called "River Views."

The appropriately named gallery is located on the original first floor of the Old Stone Warehouse. There are no signs on the building indicating the gallery's presence.

"You'll never hear us advertise about the gallery," said Edlund. "We want to focus on getting recognition for the Old Stone Warehouse rather than self-promotion."

The show features more than 65 paintings and photographs of the Rappahannock River.

"All the photos were taken within the city limits of Fredericksburg," Ford said. "But I would like to defy anyone to tell me where each picture was taken. They look like they could be scenes in Mississippi or even Colorado."

Ford met Edlund in 1983 while he was sitting outside of the Old Stone Warehouse cleaning bullets.

"Our work complements each other," Ford said. "Sometimes I photograph what he paints and he paints what I photograph."

Edlund, whose paintings show influences of impressionism, has hosted several art shows at the Unknown Gallery of his own work, as well as by other artists--including several University of Mary Washington students.

"My art is the process of creation," Edlund said. "I like to paint water because it changes all the time."

The Old Stone Warehouse was built in 1813 by Thomas Goodwin, a City Council member, and was used to store dry goods and other exports that came down the Rappahannock. Goodwin's initials can still be read, engraved in a wooden column on the main floor.

The ceiling and walls of the building contain many preserved holes from Union cannonballs during the Civil War.

The sandstone building is now owned by the city of Fredericksburg and has no heating, no plumbing and very limited electricity. For the past eight years, Edlund has been maintaining the warehouse and conducting archaeological digs on the grounds.

"It's a working-class building, but it has just as much history as a mansion," said Edlund. "If no one else will care for it, I will."

The main floor of the building hosts a museum showcasing many of the artifacts Edlund has dug up from the grounds, as well as an intact Civil War cannonball that was found on Caroline Street in 1968.

Susannah Clark: 540/374-5000, ext. 5617
Email: smclark@freelancestar.com