I remember what Route 1 throughFredericksburg looked like 30 yearsago. When I was a child, I spent longsummer weekends camping outsideFredericksburg near the Chancellors -ville Battlefield and can remember rid-ing my bicycle into town, past OldSalem Church, into the historic dis-trict. I can’t imagine riding my bikeinto Fredericksburg anymore. Todayit’s a bustling city that has sprawled upand down Route 1 and all along Route3. But I credit those long summerweekends when I biked the battle-fields at Chancellorsville andWilderness with spurring my love forCivil War history.

Like so many of the cities andtowns along old Route 1, Fredericks -burg is a major destination for CivilWar buffs (four major battles werefought here), but history isn’t all thisquickly growing city is about thesedays. It is has also become a destina-tion for art and ale lovers (neither ofwhich is mutually exclusive, by the

is year Cooperative Livingis taking a road trip along thelength of U.S. Route 1 as it

crosses Virginia from the NorthCarolina border to Washington, D.C. In each issue, correspondent

Deborah Huso will relate her experiences along the way.

Art and Ale

STORIES FROM THE ROAD

Cooperative Living/June 2013

way!). The region is home to fourwineries, one brewing company, andone distillery.

Are you impressed? You shouldbe. There are but a handful of bour-bon distilleries in the U.S., most inKentucky. And one of them is righthere in Fredericksburg. The A. SmithBowman Distillery moved here in1988 from Reston, Va., and is nowopen for tours.

If you want to know how it’s done,you can take a tour with the Bowmantour guides, Mary Ahrens and BillJones, who love to talk about whiskey,bourbon, vodka, gin and rum.“Bourbon, by law, has to be made inthe U.S.,” explains Ahrens, “and it hasto be made of at least 51 percent corn.All barrels must be new, oak-charred.It’s a completely American product.”

The A. Smith Bowman Distillery hasbeen in existence since prohibitionended in the early 1930s. Its flagshipbourbon is John J. Bowman, which

Fredericksburg’s draw isn’t all Civil War. Take Route 1into this historic city to enjoy local art and local brews.

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Per A. Bowman Smith Distillery’s Mary Ahrens:“Bourbon, by law, has to be made in the U.S., and it has to be made of at least 51 percent corn.”

by Deborah Huso, Contributing Writer

31June 2013/www.co-opliving.com

takes 10 years to complete. Jones calls bour-bon “the Mercedes of whiskey.” And if yougo on a distillery tour here, you’ll see howit’s all done and get a glimpse of a ware-house holding some 5,600 barrels of liquor.

Currently, the distillery is in operationwith five employees who collectively havemore than 75 years of experience in thebusiness. “The A. Smith BowmanDistillery uses time-honored traditions toproduce hand-crafted bourbon that hon-ors the legacy and ground-breaking spiritof Virginia’s pioneers,” says Ahrens.

She adds that the John J. Bowmansingle-barrel batch and the BowmanBrothers small batch each won a goldmedal at the 2013 San Francisco WorldSpirits Competition.

Complimentary tours are offered 9a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday,and a special Father’s Day event is sched-uled for June 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,open and free to the public.

ON TO A DIFFERENT SPIRITIf hard liquor isn’t your thing, however,

you can head into downtown Fredericks -burg (Route 1 turns into Princess AnneStreet in the historic area), and enjoy beer tastings at the Capital Ale House onCaroline Street. This popular restaurant and bar has the largest beer selection inCentral Virginia, including beers from thelocal Blue and Gray Brewery.

I’ve never been a big fan of beer, butwhen in an ale house, one must do as theother ale house patrons do. So I sign up fora five-beer tasting, sampling everythingfrom a Legend Brown ale to a Bold Rockcider. Waiter Bryce Kinsey takes me on mytasting tour. Formerly in the U.S. Army,Kinsey now operates a recording studio onthe side called Human Movement Records.And while he commonly offers tast-ings here at Capital Ale, he isn’tstrict about how and when to drinkyour beer. “I think it’s more fun topair different beers with differentfoods and see how it tastes ratherthan formally matching a beer to adish,” he says.

But beer actually isn’t Kinsey’spassion. Music is. He runs what hecalls his “mobile studio” on theweekends, is currently working ona degree in electrical engineering,and says he’s been playing clarinetfor 16 years. Kinsey calls himself a“band geek,” but it’s Kinsey who

Distillery tour guide Mary Ahrens (inset)takes visitors through the warehouse (below),where some 5,600 barrels of liquor arehoused while their contents age to perfec-tion. Complimentary tours are offered from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

(Above) The popular CapitalAle House on Caroline Streethas the largest beer selectionin Central Virginia, includinglocal brews. Waiter BryceKinsey (left) commonly offerstastings, but suggests thatpatrons be creative andexplore their own preferenceswhen pairing beer and food.

alerts me to Fredericks burg’s growingarts scene.

The historic downtown area isloaded with galleries, including the ArtFirst Gallery, a 34-member artists’cooperative that has been operationalfor two decades. Local gourd artistLeah Comeford says many of the localartists are older. “You’re starting to seeartists beginning in their 40s to 70s,taking on new careers in retirement,”she says. Comeford herself is a retiredgraphic artist from the West Coastwho came to Fredericks burg as abride 15 years ago. Today shepaints on gourds and also teach-es art classes.

Next door to Art First isanother cooperative gallerycalled Brush Strokes. With 16artist members, the gallery fea-tures painting, photography, andjewelry. Cooperative memberNorma Woodward, age 73, is aformer database manager whonow spends her summers roadtripping across the U.S. and tak-ing pictures. “I now have time todo what I want to do,” she says. “Lastyear I left home in July and came backin October.”

STAYING OVERNIGHT?If you’re looking for a place to

spend the night while exploring thegalleries on Caroline Street, you cancheck into the luxurious CarolineHouse Bed and Breakfast, managed byinnkeeper Lindi Calegari. The 1890house was built by a FredericksburgCounty treasurer who was tragicallykilled in a carriage accident rightbefore construction was complete. Thehome opened as a B & B just over twoyears ago and is part of the RichardJohnston Inn complex.

A native New Yorker, Calegariended up in Fredericksburg when herdad moved the family to Lake Anna towork at the power plant as a nuclearelectrician. This single mom trained incourt reporting has been here eversince, and while she had no experi-ence in inn keeping before coming towork with the Caroline House, shecomes from a large Italian family thatloves to cook. Tall, slender, and grace-ful, Calegari says working at theCaroline House is “like working in adollhouse every day.” n

Cooperative Living/June 2013

The Fredericksburg Visitor Center (706 Caroline St., 540-373-1776, www.visitfred.com, open daily 9-5 Mon.-Sat., 11-5 Sun.) is located in the heart of OldTown and directly adjacent to Trolley Toursof Fredericksburg (706 Caroline St., 540898-0737, www.fredericksburgtrolley.com),which offers tours of the historic city severaltimes a day during the summer. If you want to have a full exploration of

the Fredericksburg area’s winery and distill-ing culture, join the Grapes & Grains Trail(www.GandGTrail.com, 877-404-5810),and take a ride on the Richmond, Fred -ericksburg, and Potomac Railroad, enjoy-ing six whistle stops that include four areawineries as well as the A. Smith BowmanDistillery (One Bowman Drive, 540-373-4555, www.asmithbowman.com) and the Blue & Gray Brewing Company(3300 Dill Smith Dr., 540-538-2379,www.blueandgraybrewingco.com). Then explore the downtown district’s

more than two dozen art galleries, includ-ing Art First Gallery (824 Caroline St.,www.artfirstgallery.com, 540-371-7107),Brush Strokes Gallery (824 Caroline St.,www.brushstrokesfredericksburg.com, 540-368-0560), and the FredericksburgCenter for the Creative Arts (813 SophiaSt., www.fccava.org, 540-373-5646).

For the best eats in town, check out theCapital Ale House (917 Caroline St., 540-371-2337, www.capitalalehouse.com), LaPetite Auberge (311 William St., 540-371-2727, www.lapetiteaubergefred.com) fortraditional French cuisine, or RistoranteRenato (422 William St., 540-371-8228,www.rrenato.com) for Italian cuisine.Then enjoy luxurious overnight accom-

modations at the 1890 Caroline House(528 Caroline St., 540-899-7606,www.therichardjohnstoninn.com). n

(From top) Trolley Tours of Fredericksburgoffers tours year-round; check their websitefor seasonal schedules. Art First Gallery isone of more than two dozen in the down-town district. The 1890 Caroline Houseoffers convenient accommodations fromwhich to launch your tour of the historic city.

IF YOU GO...

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Caroline St.), and visit the Fredericksburg andSpotsylvania National Military Park online atwww.nps.gov/frsp.

TOUR BATTLEFIELD HOMESWalking around the restored gardens of

Chatham Manor in Falmouth (just across theRappahannock River off Route 1), feeling thevelvety petals of summer roses, watching theriver drift lazily by just below the grounds, it isdifficult to imagine this scene was ever any-thing but peaceful. The brick Georgian manorhouse, which now serves as headquarters forthe Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National

Four major battles of the Civil War occurredin and around Fredericksburg over an 18-monthperiod from December 1862 through May1864, making the region a vortex of fightingand resulting in a total casualty count of100,000. Those battles included Fredericks burg,Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and SpotsylvaniaCourthouse. While you can visit all four battle-fields, all of which offer driving and/or walkingtours, you can also take a tour of Civil War sitesin downtown Fredericks burg, including a streetfighting exhibit on Caroline Street and theNational Cemetery. Pick up a walking tour mapat the Fredericks burg Visitor Center (706

(Top) Chatham Manor now serves asheadquarters for the Fredericksburg andSpotsylvania National Military Park.(Above) The grave of General “Stonewall”Jackson’s arm is located on the grounds of(left) Ellwood House.

Fredericksburg inthe Civil War

June 2013/www.co-opliving.com

Military Park, was once the centerpiece of arambling 1,200-acre plantation belonging toWilliam Fitzhugh and worked by over 100slaves, some of whom led a rebellion on theplantation in 1805.But that was not to be the bloodiest period

for Chatham. In 1862, the home served as aFederal headquarters (once visited byPresident Abraham Lincoln), and later as ahospital during and after the Battle ofFredericksburg, a disastrous defeat for theUnion Army with more than 12,000 casual-ties. Volunteer nurses at the hospital includedpoet Walt Whitman and later founder of theRed Cross Clara Barton. Whitman remarkedon the horrid scenes in and around the hospi-tal, noting that at the foot of a tree on thegrounds he saw “a heap of amputated feet,legs, arms, and hands.” Today Chatham is a very different place.

Visitors, however, may learn about the manorhouse’s history and that of the Civil War yearsin Fredericksburg through exhibits inside thehistoric home. The Civil War-era owners of Chatham,

the Lacy family, permanently moved awayfrom the property after the war. The home and grounds were in complete disrepair,blood stains on the floors, graveyards on thegrounds. Ironically, they made their new resi-dence Ellwood, another Fredericksburg areahome of significance to the local Civil War his-tory. Part of the Wilderness Battlefield, EllwoodManor was a middling farm in its day. During the Battle of the Wilderness in May

1864, it served as headquarters for generalsunder Ulysses S. Grant. It was also the burialplace of Confederate General “Stonewall”Jackson’s amputated arm following the Battleof Chancellorsville the previous year. Todayvisitors can visit the Lacy family cemetery atEllwood where a monument marks the burialspot of the celebrated general’s arm. Ellwoodgrounds are open to visitors daily during thesummer, though you must obtain a visitor’spass at the Chancellorsville Battlefield VisitorCenter first. The home itself is open as well onselect summer dates when volunteers from theFriends of Wilderness Battlefield give tours.

INTERESTED?Chatham is open Monday through

Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Call 540-373-6122 for further info on Chatham. Forinformation on when Ellwood is open for tours,call 540-786-2880. Learn more about thesehistoric homes and the battlefields surroundingthem at www.nps.gov/frsp. Admission to allFredericksburg and Spotsylvania NationalMilitary Park facilities is free. n