ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, December 7, 1996             TAG: 9612090052
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-4  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG
SOURCE: Associated Press 

STORE ONCE OWNED BY WASHINGTON KIN TO BE RESTORED

A FOUNDATION PLANS to restore the property. Work was started this week.

The owners of a store once owned by George Washington's brother-in-law donated the property to the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, the organization's president said Wednesday.

Bill Beck said the foundation wants to refurbish the building and open it as a Colonial store. He said it will take several years to conduct the archaeological research and raise the money to finish the project.

``We're a nation of shopkeepers,'' he said. ``Retailing is an important part of American history. We'd like to think that some of the major retail companies would take an interest in helping to fund restoration of this historic store.''

Fielding Lewis, Washington's brother-in-law, used the 11/2-story brick building before 1776, according to preliminary research.

The property owners who donated the building preferred to remain anonymous, Beck said.

Lewis sold the land and building to Edward Carter in 1776. William Stone, the mayor of Fredericksburg, bought it 17 years later and operated a store in the building.

The store was seriously damaged in the Oct. 17, 1807, fire that destroyed 56 buildings in Fredericksburg. When it was repaired, a second story was added.

The building has been boarded up for many years and had fallen into disrepair, but stabilization started Tuesday. Workers removed loose bricks from the chimney to the roof line, shored up a fractured supporting beam on the first floor and buttressed the sagging brick wall in the basement.

Lewis was in the mercantile business and had several warehouses and stores. He also served in the House of Burgesses, helped establish a gun factory in Fredericksburg that provided arms for the American Revolution, and was made a colonel during that war.

He and his second wife, Betty Washington, lived at Kenmore, the Fredericksburg mansion that he had built for her.

LENGTH: Short :   50 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. The Fielding Lewis store, built before 1776 in 
          Fredericksburg, was donated to the Historic Fredericksburg 
          Foundation.