Couple Spent $4.7 Million to Restore Fredericksburg Historical Mansion, Federal Hill

Handcrafted punch-and-dentil molding, a formal English garden with walkways of handmade brick and an elevator and wheelchair lift add up to $4.7 million of renovations and a modern twist to one of Fredericksburg’s oldest homes.

The home, a 220-year-old mansion known as Federal Hill, was featured in The Wall Street Journal today, Nov. 25, as the centerpiece of a story about the homeowners’ effort to restore the historical site.

Federal Hill was used as a hospital for Union troops during the Civil War. Though most of the home’s battle scars were removed in earlier renovations, little pieces of history still exist inside the home, according to the Journal. A wartime shell hole sits in a wall and what’s thought to be blood stains are on the floorboards.

In total, homeowners Charles and Stephanie Maurer spent $4.7 million to purchase and restore Federal Hill to its Civil War Era glory, the Journal reports. Originally from New York, the Maurer’s moved to Fredericksburg in 2000 for Charles’ work. After a long process, the family closed on Federal Hill in 2005 and finished restoration in 2007, according to The Free Lance-Star.

But the Maurer’s don’t see themselves as homeowners. They’re more like temporary guardians. “At the end of the day you’re really just passing through, overseeing the house until the next owners take over,” Charles Maurer said to The Wall Street Journal. During renovations, the family hid 21st century mementos, like DVDs and Chuck E. Cheese tokens, in the walls for future renovators to find.

Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal.

image via Wikimedia