Quarantine Road

In 1855, an outbreak of yellow fever devastated the port city of Norfolk, VA. Annette Finley-Croswhite says the similarities with the handling of the coronavirus pandemic are chilling.

Marie Antoinette had wacky hairdos and threw lavish parties. She was also smart and never said,“Let them eat cake.” Ron Schechter has uncovered her secret library of banned books, which he says reveals a depth to her character not previously recognized.

Maggie Walker was an African American teacher and businesswoman and the first woman of any race to charter a bank in the United States. Colita Fairfax says Walker was also a powerful civil rights leader in the former capital of the Confederacy during the repressive Jim Crow era.

A town’s historical markers tell visitors the story of a place. But what do they leave out? We take a walking tour of Fredericksburg, Virginia’s historic markers and monuments with geographer Stephen Hanna to understand its untold stories.