The Weems-Botts Museum

Hours of Operation: We are currently seasonally closed. Our Board of Directors is determining the best admission schedule to meet public demand with an announcement to be made in mid-February. In February we will be open on Saturdays from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm but closed in the event of inclement weather. Last tour starts at 3:15 pm.

Tours Start at our Museum Annex at 3944 Cameron Street in Dumfries.  

Closed for Easter and Thanksgiving holidays. Seasonally closed from December 16, 2009 - January 31, 2010

Admission Fees (admission includes guided tour):
Adults: $3.00
Senior Citizens and Children 6-16: $2.00
Children under 6: Free

Time Travelers (must bring your own passport program):
Free on Wednesdays. All other days as follows:
Adults: $2.00
Senior Citizens and Children 6-16: $1.50

Research Fees:
Research fee: $10 per hour.
Copying fee: $0.25 per page

Call 703.221.2218 for additional details

Directions to Museum

(Tours Start at our Museum Annex at 3944 Cameron Street in Dumfries):

From the north: Take exit 152 from I-95, merge left at "Y" exit onto Route 234, turn right at intersection with Route 1. In Dumfries, after highway splits and you pass Town Hall and Community Center on the left and the garden center Dumfries Nursery on the right, turn right off Route 1 onto Duke St. at the Weems-Botts Museum/Merchant Park/William Grayson Memorial sign. The Museum is 2 blocks up the hill at the corner of Duke and Cameron streets, but tours star at our Museum Annex at 3944 Cameron Street. Please do not park in the apartment building's parking area, but alongside Merchant Park.

From the south: Take Exit 152 from I-95, turn right at "Y" exit onto Route 234, then follow directions above.

The history of Dumfries is illuminated on this family-friendly and interesting tour. Colonial Dumfries, the oldest chartered town in Virginia, was a thriving port city, rivaling New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. Famous Virginia families, such as the Masons, Lees, and Washingtons frequented Dumfries for shopping, entertainment, political meetings, taverns, and to conduct business. Dumfries subsequently serves important roles in the Revolutionary War with Britain. 

The 250+ year old structure now known as The Weems-Botts Museum is named after Mason Locke Weems and the man to whom he sold the house in 1802, Benjamin Botts.

Parson Weems briefly owned the now-restored building and used it as a bookstore. Reportedly he played the "devil's instrument", the fiddle, outside the building to attract customers from the major east-west highway leading to the port of Dumfries. Weems popularized the life of President Washington, including the curious anecdotes about Washington as a youth barking his father's cherry tree ("I cannot tell a lie") and throwing a stone across the Rappahannock. These stories helped to make George Washington a national hero for all time. It was the 2nd best selling book in America, next to the Holy Bible, for many years and was in continuous publication from 1800 to 1927.

Benjamin Botts is most noted as a member of the defense team in 1807 for Aaron Burr's treason trial. Burr was accused of treason for conspiring with the Spanish to split the western settlements (across the Allegheny Mountains) from the United States. Botts was successful and Burr was not convicted. Benjamin Botts and his wife Jane died, along with the Governor of Virginia and other prominent state leaders, in a theater fire in Richmond, Virginia in 1811.

After several turnovers for tax sales and other adversities, the property came into the possession of the Merchant family. This family was established in Dumfries as early as the 1780's. The Merchant family, said by many to be haunting the museum building, retained the property from 1869 until 1968. Fortunately, the history of the building was discovered, the Town of Dumfries purchased the building, and now HDV, a membership non-profit runs it as a museum. The Weems-Botts Museum opened in 1975.