University of Virginia Library

BOWLING GREEN

This, the county seat town of Caroline, was established shortly
after the formation of the county, as will appear from the Legislative
Petitions elsewhere in this volume, and received its name
from the estate of Major Hoomes on which it was built, the said
estate taking the name "Old Mansion," by which it is still known.

The Bowling Green, as it was originally called, was once quite
a social centre. The races of the American Jockey Association
were frequently held here in the latter years of the eighteenth
century. Preparatory to these occasions temporary hotels were
erected and the town during the week of the races was wholly
given over to merriment. The sporting journals of the period,
many of which have been preserved, tell the story.

Bowling Green is situated on the old State Road—one of the
first roads to be surveyed in Virginia—and is forty miles north
of Richmond and twenty-two miles south of Fredericksburg.
The railroad station for Bowling Green is Milford, and is two
miles west of the town and connected therewith by two bus lines.
The Richmond, Washington and Baltimore papers may be read
by the residents at breakfast of the day of issue, and the New
York papers at noon. In addition to the public buildings there
are a number of stores, a mill, two hotels, newspaper office (The
Caroline Progress) light and power plant, ice plant, high school,
five churches, a bank, and many of the most attractive residences

in eastern Virginia. The lawns are commented on far and wide
because of their spaciousness and beauty.

An Avenue of Old Cedars at Bowling Green.

The old Stage Road over which passed the through traffic
from North to South in colonial times, is now the main thoroughfare

for automobile traffic between these two sections and in the
spring and autumn approximately a thousand cars daily pass
the village en route to or from Florida and other points. The
Union Bank and Trust Company, of Bowling Green, originally
Caroline County Bank, operated by L. E. Martin, Leroy Dunn,
F. H. Borkey, Richard Barlow, John Cox, George P. Lyon, J. T.
Richards and T. C. Valentine, does a business of one million

The Lawn Hotel at Bowling Green on Site of Old New Hope Tavern

dollars annually. The automobile business of J. W. Elliott and
Sons is the next most important business establishment in town.

An old and pleasant custom, which grew out of the old county
court, is the "Social Court" in Bowling Green on the second
Monday of every month. On this day one may see nearly all
of the citizens of the county in town. Buying, selling, "swapping,"
and speech-making, in political season, and social intercourse,
make it a great day for the county and the county seat. On this
day one may buy anything from puppies to plantations without
leaving the street.