Falmouth: Twin Town Across the Rappahannock

Falmouth and Fredericksburg came into the world together. The Virginia General Assembly chartered both towns in seventeen twenty-eight. Fredericksburg on the south bank of the Rappahannock, Falmouth directly opposite on the north.

Falmouth was positioned precisely at the uppermost point a sailing vessel could navigate, so tobacco from the Virginia interior funneled here to be loaded and shipped downriver. Ferries linked the two banks. For most of the colonial era, Falmouth was a busy trading port.

During the Civil War it became a Union staging area, its high ground looking straight down at Confederate Fredericksburg across the river.