Fredericksburg Circuit Court House – Princess Anne Street, Fredericksburg, Virginia

The first courthouse on the site of the current courthouse for the circuit court for the city of Fredericksburg was built between 1736 and 1740. The present courthouse, designed by James Renwick in the French Gothic style, was completed in 1852, replacing the original building which was demolished. James Renwick later designed "The Castle" of the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.

In 1916, the brick walls were stuccoed and in 1926 the shingle roof was replaced by one made of copper. The courthouse tower houses a six hundred pound bronze bell made at the Paul Revere Foundry in Boston, one of one hundred and thirty-four surviving Revere Foundry bells and the only known Revere bell in Virginia. The bell was donated to the Corporation of Fredericksburg in 1828 by Silas Wood, of New York, who married Miss Julia Ann Chew Brock of Fredericksburg in 1816.

The clerk’s office contains many historical documents among which are: the will of Mary Washington, mother of George Washington (dated 1789) and the commission (dated 1742) appointing Augustine Washington (father of George) a trustee of Fredericksburg.