A Memorial Landscape

A Memorial Landscape. Fredericksburg: Timeless.. , On this site, the Fredericksburg Area Veterans' Council honors the local men and women who gave their lives in wars and military actions during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries., The extension of George Street to a new high school cut through several lots to create this island of green. The flagpole comprised the first memorial and lists the names of local men killed in France during World War I. The 40mm anti-aircraft gun is a reminder of World War II. The large granite panels were placed on an expanded island in 2008. It created a central location where the community can recognize and commemorate members of the United States armed forces from this region who have fallen in overseas conflicts., Additional memorials can be found on the grounds of the former school, where students have remembered their peers with benches, flagpoles, and plaques. The town renamed the old Fredericksburg High School after Matthew Fontaine Maury, a local boy who grew up to do pioneering research in oceanography while an officer in the United States Navy., [Captions:] , In 1932, a stone memorial, commemorating Virginia's Statute for Religious Freedom, stood in this location. It was moved to Washington Avenue in 1977., An extended George Street is seen in this 1969 City map, which created the traffic island that has been the site of a series of memorials., Matthew Fontaine Maury was born in Spotsylvania County in 1806. When the Civil War came, he resigned his commission in the U.S. Navy to serve in the Confederate Navy., Maury School was built in 1919, as the Fredericksburg High School. It received substantial additions in 1929 and 1936. This photo shows the original school, without addition. The side door on the right side of this photo is the door visible in front of you.