The
Lewis Family Descendants will meet for our fourth “Heritage Weekend” this
upcoming year in Fredericksburg, Virginia, 13-15 June 2014. Our first reunion
was held in Fredericksburg in 2010 and allowed us to exchange family stories
and visit ancestral homes to include the site of Washington farm, the Lewis
plantation (Kenmore) and the home of Mary Ball Washington. Our second heritage
weekend in Williamsburg, Virginia, focused on the early years of Fielding
Lewis. In 2012, the family gathered in Alexandria, Virginia, and visited Mount
Vernon (including the mill and distillery), Arlington House (where Lawrence
Lewis died while visiting George Washington Parke Custis (his brother-in-law) as
well as Woodlawn, the home of Lawrence and Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis, where we
had a colonial dining experience. We attended services at Pohick Church before
concluding our reunion weekend at Mount Vernon where we honored our ancestor
George Washington with the placement of a wreath at his tomb…the tomb where
Lawrence Lewis is also buried. This upcoming Heritage Weekend promises to include
the fellowship of other Lewis descendants and an opportunity to visit places
special to the Lewis family.
We
will again celebrate Betty Washington Lewis’ birthday (20 June 1733) as we
visit her home (Lewis plantation – Kenmore as well her grave (located at the site of the home of her daughter Betty
Lewis and son-in-law Charles Carter known as Western View in Culpeper,
Virginia).
Plans
are in the works for a special tour and dinner at Kenmore for Friday evening
with a return the following evening for a Shakespearian play on the lawns of
Kenmore. The plays were initially selected from those it is known George
Washington attended while in Fredericksburg and became increasingly popular
that the plays continue. We will also view the site of the Fredericksburg
Armory (later converted to the Fredericksburg Academy) and the Mary Ball Washington House
as well as Mediation Rock (where Mary Ball Washington is buried). On Sunday, we will conclude our Heritage Weekend with
the opportunity to attend services at St. George’s Episcopal Chuch as a family
followed by lunch.
We look forward to you joining us!
