George may have a Federal holiday, but Historic Kenmore is making sure his sister Betty has a party of her own. Betty Washington’s 291st birthday celebration will be June 22 at her Fredericksburg home Kenmore.
Betty Washington Lewis and her husband Fielding Lewis began construction on Kenmore in 1769, and the family moved in by the fall of 1775. The Fredericksburg plantation originally covered 1,270 acres, now reduced to a single city block. Kenmore is notable for its 18th-century decorative plasterwork ceilings. After Fielding’s death in 1781, the property passed to his first-born son, John, while Betty stayed on for 14 more years. Kenmore has had eleven owners and has been owned by The George Washington Foundation since 1925. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.
Kenmore invites guests to visit from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to enjoy Crumbl cookies and a cup of tea while learning about life as a lady in the 18th century – their games, hobbies, fashion, and more. Birthday festivities are included in General Admission tickets. Admission is free for children under 6.
Tickets may be purchased in advance online or at the door. Historic Kenmore is located at 1201 Washington Avenue in Fredericksburg.
The George Washington Regional Commission (GWRC) and Friends of the Rappahannock (FOR) published a joint study on Urban Heat Islands in the Fredericksburg area.
The study encompassed Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania, Stafford counties, and Fredericksburg city.
The study combined citizen science and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to identify areas with a high concentration of impervious surfaces (such as asphalt, concrete, buildings, etc.) and their correlation to higher ambient air temperatures through heat absorption. This effect is known as Urban Heat Islands, and according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Heat Island impacts can affect a community’s environment and quality of life in multiple ways, including increased energy consumption, elevated emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, compromised human health and comfort, and impaired water quality.
Friends of the Rappahannock conducted the study by coordinating 37 volunteers who obtained 320 air temperature measurements at 20 sample sites within Planning District 16 on July 10th, 2022. These samples were then put into a Random Forest model in ArcGIS Pro (an ESRI product).
The model was used to extrapolate temperatures across the region, ultimately identifying areas as non-heat islands, heat islands, or urban heat islands. The data found that 3.57% of the landmass of Planning District 16 (approximately 32,700 acres) can be classified as an EPA-defined Urban Heat Island.
Geographically, the results were clustered along the Interstate 95 corridor in Fredericksburg and surrounding areas into Stafford and Spotsylvania. North Stafford along Garrisonville Road recorded the highest temperature in the study at 104°F, a 17-degree difference from nearby forestland temperatures.
Other hotspots included the Route 17 corridor in Stafford County; Central Park and Celebrate Virginia South in Fredericksburg; the Spotsylvania Towne Center and Cosner’s Corner in Spotsylvania County; and Dahlgren and the King George Landfill/Birchwood Power complex in King George County.
To learn more about the impacts of Urban Heat Islands, the public is invited to attend an Urban Heat Island Community Listening Session on February 22 at 10 a.m. or March 9 at 6 p.m. at GWRC’s office at 406 Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg.
Residents will gather information about how they have been impacted by Urban Heat Island and what next steps can be taken to address these impacts.
