Brompton / Marye's Heights

The house that gave the ridge its name sits four hundred yards above the town. John Lawrence Marye built it in 1838 — a large brick house on the heights.

Confederate General James Longstreet maintained his headquarters at Brompton during the Battle of Fredericksburg. Union forces came up the hill in repeated assaults. They were turned back each time.

The ridge is still called Marye's Heights. The house went on the National Register in 1979. Today it serves as the residence of the president of the University of Mary Washington — named for George Washington's mother, who lived in Fredericksburg. A working house on a ridge that anchored a Confederate line.