James Monroe moved to Fredericksburg in 1789 and began his law practice in an office on Charles Street, launching a career in public service that would carry him on to be a U.S. senator; American minister to France, England, and Spain; governor of Virginia; secretary of state; and fifth president of the United States. Monroe’s Fredericksburg practice is memorialized in this Charles Street building, erected in several stages, the last being perhaps as late as the 1840s. The James Monroe Law Office building stands near the site of Monroe’s actual office in the Fredericksburg Historic District, and is itself a well-preserved example of a Federal-period attorney’s office. The museum, owned by the University of Mary Washington, exhibits many possessions of Monroe and his wife, Elizabeth Kortright Monroe.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia