Market Square

Market Square. Fredericksburg: Timeless.. , This public space has been leveled for modern activities, but the original market square sloped toward the building in front of you, where the market was at ground level. Activity in this central outdoor market was eventually supplanted by indoor grocery stores, some of them in the buildings around the square, fronting on public streets., In Colonial Virginia, religious and civil authorities were close and the original town plan placed the town hall and the church lots adjacent to one another. The separation of church and state followed the American Revolution, but the physical proximity of the Colonial institutions had overlapped, illustrated by the discovery of burials in the market square., [Captions:] , The City government still owns and maintains the clocks that are on each side of the steeple at St. George's Church., In 2001-2003, several burial sites were uncovered during an archaeological investigation by Mary Washington College (now the University of Mary Washington). The graves were traditional in all respects and the remains were reinterred in St. George's churchyard., Confederate General William Barksdale used this area as his headquarters during the vicious street fighting on December 11, 1862, two days before the battle of Fredericksburg. His Mississippi brigade contronted Federal units that had forced their way across the Rappahannock River that morning., This 1907 Sanborn insurance map shows the configuration of the market alley, the market square, and the adjacent church property. Some of the buildings facing the streets housed grocery stores and other commercial activities that had once been conducted in the open air market behind them., People routinely threw out garbage in the Market Square. These broken ceramics and other material were once food and drink containers.