On December 11, 1862, Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s Union artillery reigned down 100 shells a minute for two hours on the small town of Fredericksburg, Virginia, destroying or heavily damaging every structure and killing 100 people. Despite such horrific damage, Fredericksburg held on, limping through three years of war and the several difficult decades of reconstruction. From the ashes rose a center of trade and industry: today, the town of 19,000 people draws a substantial source of its income from tourists who come to learn about its history. And on December 6, 2008, that just got easier. Nearly one and a half centuries after the bombardment, the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center has more than doubled its exhibition space, opening the 19,500-square-foot Catherine W. Jones McKann Center on Princess Anne Street, which celebrates Fredericksburg’s 300-year past, from its humble beginning as a tobacco inspection station through some of the most turbulent years in American history.

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The lure of white sand beaches, citrus groves, and the glitter of Disney World and Miami, has often diverted the spotlight from Florida’s rich historical heritage.

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