Fredericksburg Ghost Stories That Start When You Reach the House
A GPS-triggered audio walk past The Chimneys, the Rising Sun Tavern and St. George's churchyard, at whatever hour you choose.
This is a ghost walk with no one waiting at the start. You load the tour into the Action Tour Guide app, and each story plays by itself when your phone's GPS reaches the place it belongs to. The operator puts the route at more than a mile, with 15+ stories and one to two hours on foot through downtown Fredericksburg.
Nobody meets you. The whole setup happens on your phone before you set out. The listing credits the narration to Mark Nesbitt and calls him the creator of the original Ghosts of Fredericksburg candlelight walking tours. Nesbitt's own site says he started those tours in 2006, as an expansion of his Gettysburg ghost tours, and a 2006 copy of their website puts the tour headquarters on the second floor of The Chimneys at 623 Caroline Street, the first stop on this route. You pick the hour and the pace, and you can pause the stories whenever you like.
The suggested start is 600 Sophia Street, the city's Sophia Street Parking Garage near Riverfront Park. After booking, search your email and texts for the words audio tour. The tour password arrives in that message.
Virginia: Ghosts of Fredericksburg Self-Guided Walking Audio TourSelf-guided GPS audio walk through downtown Fredericksburg: 15+ stories, 1+ miles, about 1 to 2 hours, usable on any date.www.viator.comA Phantom Harp, a Locked Room and the White Lady of Chatham
The operator's stop list reads like a map of the old town's rumors. At The Chimneys the story is a phantom harp and singer. At the Fredericksburg Visitor Center it is windows that open on their own, blamed on a figure called Samuel. At the corner of Caroline and George Streets, the tour tells of Union soldiers seen at the windows by a priest.
At 1002 Caroline Street the story is footprints in a long-locked room. The Lewis Store at 1200 Caroline Street carries footsteps tied to its old owner, Colonel Fielding Lewis, and the Rising Sun Tavern has heavy boots in empty rooms.
For Chatham, the route has you look across the Rappahannock to hear the White Lady story. The house itself stands on the far bank. In the operator's telling, she appears every seven years on the anniversary of her death, walking the garden terrace. If you want to cross over on another day, the National Park Service lists Chatham's main building as open Saturday and Sunday from 9 am to 5 pm, with the grounds open daily from sunrise to sunset, and the park charges no entrance fee.
Told From the Sidewalk
The booking covers the stories and the route. The listing says it is not an entrance ticket and asks you to check opening hours before your visit, and entrance fees sit outside the price.
The Rising Sun Tavern at 1304 Caroline Street is a museum run by Washington Heritage Museums. Its guided tours start as visitors arrive, take about 45 minutes, and the last one begins at 3:30 pm. From April to October it opens 10 am to 4 pm Monday to Saturday; from November to March it opens at 11 am and is closed on Tuesdays. Sundays run noon to 4 pm all year. Adult admission is $12, and ages 6 to 18 pay $6.
Treat the walk as street-side listening. Going inside a museum is a separate plan with its own hours and admission. Later stops include a woman named Elizabeth at 303 Fauquier Street, the Willis House and St. George's Episcopal Church. The church's graveyard website calls the graveyard the most accessible part of the church, with no steps and one gate that is left open.
One 2025 traveler called it a great first self-guided tour. A 2023 reviewer who loved it still wished for a few more hair-raising tales. The listing marks the route suitable for all physical fitness levels, and the operator's own tour page says nothing about step-free access.
Phones, Passwords and Earbuds
Do the setup while you still have Wi-Fi or a strong signal. Download the Action Tour Guide app, sign in with your email, open My Tours, choose Enter Password, then download the tour itself.
The one-time code the app sends at sign-in is not your tour password. The password comes in the separate message from Action Tour Guide. Once downloaded, the listing says the tour runs offline on GPS.
Supported devices are an iPhone on iOS 15 or later, an Android phone on version 9 or later, or a GPS-enabled tablet with cellular capability. The password works on one device per traveler booked. The listing suggests couples can share one tour with separate earbuds and recommends headphones on the walk. Setup help is on 1-508-506-1844.
Parking at 600 Sophia Street
If you drive in, the start is the city's Sophia Street Parking Garage, on the corner of Sophia and Wolfe Streets, with 297 spaces and open around the clock. Its pay stations take cards only, no cash, and not cards that need a PIN.
In the city's October 2025 rate table, the first three hours cost two dollars, each extra hour one dollar, and a day tops out at eight dollars. Special events can carry different rates, and a lost ticket costs fifty dollars. You need the ticket to exit. The listing puts the walk at one to two hours.
Without a car, the city lists its FXBGO bus Route F5, the Downtown Loop, as stopping at the garage.
📍 Start at 600 Sophia Street. Cancel at least 24 hours before the date on your booking for a full refund; the tour never expires. The operator says the final story plays near the Kenmore Inn at 1200 Princess Anne Street, which the King family bought in 2023 and now runs as the Ironclad Inn.