Liberty Town

Liberty Town. Fredericksburg: Timeless.. , Seth Barton, 1755-1813, fought in the American Revolution, grew wealthy as a shipping merchant, and speculated in real estate. He laid out the subdivision that came to be called Liberty Town in 1812. He is buried at St. George’s Church., Henry Deane was born a slave in Powhatan County, but arrived in Fredericksburg in 1868 as a free man. He worked for several local businesses but also managed his own livery and speculated in real estate., This small community, laid out on the edge of town in 1812, greeted overland travelers with a wagon yard, a livery, a blacksmith, and a tavern/hotel. The tavern was called Rising Sun (later the Western Hotel) and stood on Liberty Street, to your front. It burned down in 1836., Fredericksburg annexed Liberty Town, in 1851, and established a burial ground. Initially called Potters Field, it was later referred to as the Colored Cemetery. In 1861, the town allowed the burial there of 51 Confederate soldiers who had succumbed to disease in nearby encampments., After the Civil War, the town curtailed burials and this area developed as an African-American neighborhood. Many of the graves were removed to the Shiloh Cemetery (opened in 1882), while new houses and commercial enterprises filled the streetscapes. The Fredericksburg High School, to your left, has occupied a prominent site since 1919 and students still use its related athletic field., [Captions:] , Liberty Town is outlined in red on this 1890 map of Fredericksburg. The roads at odd angles to the street grid followed the terrain rather than the established street pattern., African Americans buried in Potters Field were reinterred in the Shiloh Cemetery, at Littlepage Street and Monument Avenue., Small dwellings characterized this post Civil War African-American community. The frame dwelling in this photo was located on the Liberty Street, to your front. The brick building in the background is still there., Henry Deane built many of the small houses in Liberty Town, some of which are still visible.