Fredricksburg

[MikeyCNY]

I got my BA from the Univ. of Mary Washington and I lived right in downtown Fredericksburg on "Hangover" Street and Fredericksburg--along with UMW--is a VERY liberal place. And most of those churches you speak of are more historical attractions, the one across the street from my apartment was a gay-lesbian church. The people who actually live within Fredericksburg city limits are mostly college faculty, college students (mostly female and nearly half of them from out-of-state), and 30-something yuppies with young families who commute to DC. The city is very Democratic, voting Kerry over Bush in 2004 by a whopping 64-35%, but then again its also a college town.

UMW and the surrounding residential neighborhoods leading into downtown are simply gorgeous, with tree-lined streets and cute little bungalows amidst aging yet elegant Victorian homes. Gay pride flags are very common in FXBG and its pretty much an island of liberalism surrounded by a very conservative and very Southern Spotsylavania County.

There are a multitude of bars downtown where UMW students frequent, and most of the college students are chicks, so its pretty easy to hook-up/date/whatever with single females while you're here, provided you have all your teeth and you're not a "Fredneck" or one of those shady ghetto-types that hang out at the Motor Inn.

[jaywallace]

Originally Posted by EricD

It may not be totally liberal now, but if you take into account the surrounding area, I'd say that a good 70% of people who currently live there, did not live in the Fredericksburg area before the '80s. Also most of the influx of new residents is from the north, or at the least northern VA. I'd consider Fredericksburg fairly liberal, especially with the university in town. Sure there's still some local fRednecks in the area, but they're slowly moving away to areas like Orange or King George.

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I agree, i lived there for 2 years and noticed it was quite liberal (the downtown part, not the surrounding area). Having an open gay bar/restaurant (Merrimans) is an indication of that (it does serve damn good food. I was just a little surprised when i went into the back bar area on a Friday night after dinner with my wife!!). Not saying that being gay is wrong, but to say indicate that it is some anti-liberal/anti-gay city is incorrect. Fredericksburg is a good time and everybody seems to get along.