The museum includes the landmark Weems–Botts House on the corner of Duke Street and Cameron Street and the Weems–Botts Museum Annex on 3944 Cameron Street. The museum shows the history of Dumfries, Virginia's oldest chartered town, and two people who lived in the house: Mason Locke "Parson" Weems, and attorney Benjamin Botts.The house originally served as the vestry for the Quantico Church. in 197
5 as part of a bicentennial U.S. A gazebo was also built during the bicentennial to commemorate William Grayson, one of Prince William County's most respected citizens.Historical significanceParson Weems, a native Marylander, was a clergyman who became an author and purveyor of books, which he would sell from the back of his jersey wagon. While traveling through Dumfries during one of his book-selling tours, Weems met F***y Ewell, the daughter of Colonel Jesse Ewell, a wealthy to***co planter with a warehouse business in Dumfries. They married in 1795.At the house, Weems wrote an 80-page booklet that would influence the thoughts of Americans to this day: he documented the life of George Washington, and was the creator of the famous cherry tree story ("I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet"). Weems also created the fable that Washington threw a silver dollar more than 300 feet across the Rappahannock River. He also wrote biographies on Benjamin Franklin, Francis Marion, and William Penn.
#}