My name is Lara Belfield, and I am a senior Historic Preservation and Art History double-major at the University of Mary Washington. I completed this project as part of an independent study within the Historic Preservation department. The main goal was to allow visitors of the Rappahannock River Heritage Trail to learn more about local landmarks and historical events as they walked along the trail. By placing QR codes with links to informational pages along the trail, I hope to engage visitors in an innovative and interactive way.
Before this project, I had very little knowledge of QR codes or how they worked, so much of my preliminary research was focused on utilizing this technology. Several websites offered free services for linking URLs with printable QR codes, so the process proved to be surprisingly simple. The bulk of my time was spent researching the different historical facts presented on this blog site. Deciding on what particular events I wanted to focus on proved to be challenging due to Fredericksburg’s rich history. After much consideration, I chose nine subjects to focus on mostly due to relevancy and proximity to the area covered by the trail. Most of my historical research was done online or at the Rappahannock Regional Library in downtown Fredericksburg.
Lara Belfield, 13′
University of Mary Washington Department of Historic Preservation
For more detailed information on any of the subjects covered along the trail, please consult these resources.