Kenmore

Kenmore is a Georgian plantation house built around 1775 for Fielding Lewis and his wife Betty Washington Lewis, George Washington's only surviving sister. It sits in a quiet neighborhood a short walk from the downtown commercial district, surrounded by formal gardens that have been restored to approximate their 18th-century appearance. The house is a National Historic Landmark and is operated by the nonprofit George Washington's Ferry Farm and Historic Kenmore.

The interiors are the main attraction. The plasterwork in the dining room, great room, and chamber above is extraordinarily elaborate for a colonial American house — intricate scenes of Aesop's fables and classical motifs cover the ceiling medallions and over-mantel panels. Guided tours of the house run throughout the day and include the outbuildings, the period kitchen garden, and ongoing archaeological work that has documented the lives of the enslaved people who lived and worked here.

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Kenmore's ornate interior plasterwork — the elaborate ceiling medallions and overmantel decorations in the dining room and parlor — is among the finest colonial decorative work surviving in America. For years, tradition held that it was created by Hessian prisoners of war captured at Trenton. Modern analysis suggests it was more likely the work of a French or Italian craftsman, possibly working alongside the plantation's enslaved artisans.