PLEASE NOTE LOCATION CHANGE: This tour now departs from the Holiday Inn Capitol at 550 C Street, S.W.

In today’s society, we value individuality in our dress. In the 18th century, however, there were strict rules governing who wore what. Learn about the customs and culture of 18th-century society during a full day in Fredericksburg.

Meet living-history re-enactors at the Rising Sun Tavern, home of George Washington’s brother Charles and his family from 1760 to 1790. The next owner turned the home into the only proper tavern in town. At Hugh Mercer Apothecary, we learn about treatments for ills and injuries and about the medicinal plants Dr. Mercer would have used.

Lunch is at the Inn at Fredericksburg Square, which began as a private residence in the 1750s and is now a bed-and-breakfast. Here, Rappahannock Colonial Heritage Society’s first-person interpreters— dressed from shift to shawl—describe the clothing that would have been worn by the “lower and middling sorts” (working class) and the gentry. After a tour of the building, there is free time to explore Caroline Street in the heart of the historic district.

Textile historian Dixie Rettig leads the tour and has examples of clothing from her collection for view on the bus.

9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. by bus from the Holiday Inn Capitol at 550 C Street, S.W. (click here for details & map), with a pickup stop at the Horner Road commuter lot bus shelter, I-95, Exit 158B, at about 9:25 a.m.