New Book Releases

Revealed in vintage postcards, this new book features a history of Fredericksburg, VA from 1728 to the present.

The city of Fredericksburg, situated on the Rappahannock River, was established in 1728 and was named for Prince Frederick of England. Today it is home to the University of Mary Washington, where civil rights leader James L. Farmer Jr. was a faculty member and Claudia Emerson, 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry, continues to be on the faculty. Though very much a modern urban city, Fredericksburg still has a historic downtown district and surrounding military parks that remind locals and visitors alike of its humble beginnings as a Colonial port town more than a century before it was ravaged during the Civil War.

In 1750, the deepwater port of Yorktown housed approximately 250-300 businesses, with as many as 2,000 people thriving in the small town. By 1781, the Revolutionary War's final siege had been staged, and the British were caught without resources to win the final battle against the American and Allied forces. Freedom was won for America, but Yorktown would continue to see war. In 1862, the Peninsula Campaign of the Civil War led to a monthlong battle near the site of the previous conflict. In 1917, World War I brought the embarkation of the Atlantic Fleet, and within a few decades, World War II would change Yorktown and the nation forever. These historic postcards portray the first family houses, the churches, the courthouses, the military, the battlefields, and the commemorative memorials of the area, showing the town's progression through time, from the 18th century through the present day.

First visited by English settlers in 1607, Virginia Beach has been a popular tourist destination ever since. The sea, sand, and sun are the most popular attractions, but throughout history the city has also been known for its unique architecture. The first geodesic dome built in the United States, designed by Buckminster Fuller, was the city's convention center for many years. The Cavalier Hotel, when built in 1927, was the state's largest brick structure. The new Cape Henry lighthouse, completed in 1881, remains the tallest cast iron lighthouse in the country. The lighthouse it replaced, a structure that still stands today, was erected in 1791 and was the first federally funded structure built in the United States.