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Only a mile off the I-95 freeway, about halfway to Richmond from Washington DC and easy to reach on Amtrak or Greyhound, FREDERICKSBURG is one of Virginia's prettiest historic towns, its elegant downtown streets backed by residential avenues lined with white picket fences. In colonial days, this was an important inland port, where tobacco and other plantation products were loaded onto boats that sailed down the Rappahanock River. Dozens of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings along the waterfront now hold antique stores and secondhand bookshops.

Two blocks away, in the 1816 town hall, the Fredericksburg Area Museum , 907 Princess Anne St (March-Nov Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; Dec-Feb Mon-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 1-4pm; $4), has a broad range of displays tracing local history from Native American settlements to the present day. The Rising Sun Tavern , by the river at 1304 Caroline St, was built as a home in the mid-1700s by George Washington's brother Charles. As an inn, it became a key meeting place for patriots and a hotbed of sedition. It is now a small "living history" museum (March-Nov Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 11am-5pm; Dec-Feb Mon-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm; $4), where costumed "wenches" guide visitors around a collection of pub games and ancient pewterware. They don't, however, serve food or drink any more, except for the glass of spiced herbal punch you get on the tour.

Fredericksburg's strategic location made it vital during the Civil War , and the land around the town was heavily fought over. More than 100,000 men lost their lives in the major battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania and countless other bloody skirmishes. Indeed Stonewall Jackson himself was mistakenly killed by his own troops at Chancellorsville in May 1863. The Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Battlefield Park , south of town at 1013 Lafayette Blvd (visitor center open daily: summer 8.30am-6.30pm; rest of year 9am-5pm; $4 for a weekly pass), has informative exhibits and rents three-hour audio tours ($5 for tape and player) of the various battlefield sites.