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The St. James' House was built around 1768 and is one of the few eighteenth-century frame houses still standing in Fredericksburg.

The house was originally home to James Mercer, an attorney, a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, first judge of the General Court in Fredericksburg, and the attorney who drew up the will for Mary Washington. Mercer built the house on land once owned by Fielding Lewis.

The house is particularly noted for the collection of antique furniture and decorative arts assembled by Daniel Breslin and William Tolerton, who restored St. James' in the mid-1960's and bequeathed it, along with a generous endowment for its perpetual care, to Preservation Virginia.

The house now serves as a private residence and is open by appointment for tours or for use as a meeting space. It was operated by the Mary Washington Branch of Preservation Virginia.  .  In 2013, Preservation Virginia offered the opportunity for local ownership of its Fredericksburg sites.  As of January 3, 2013, Washington Heritage Museums (formerly Mary Washington Branch Preservation Virginia) officially assumed responsibilities to continue oversight of these properties.   For more information, visit:  http://www.washingtonheritagemuseums.org/#!__properties/st.-james'-house