Carl's Ice Cream in Fredericksburg, Virginia

Carl started a soft ice cream place on Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg when he got out of the Army -- after WWII. The legend is that Carl used to use real grain alcohol in his frozen custard mix -- and he still does even though it is harder to get now. I believe the legend is probably true. Carl's Ice Cream is not pretentious. There was no place to sit, last time I was there.. There's no shade on a blazing hot day. Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry are the only flavors. I prefer the vanilla. You can order a cone or a dish or hardpack (by the quart, I can't remember which). The hard pack is frozen  hard enough to travel several hours if wrapped in a towel or blanket. That way you can take some home to Richmond or Charlottesville. I always used to stop at Carl's whether I was going North or South ...

You get off on the northernmost Fredericksburg exit (for Route 17, as I remember) and head east to Route 1, where you turn right to  go over the Rappahannock, and then as soon as you're across the bridge, turn left on Princess Anne Street and go up the slight hill a few hundred yards; Carl's will be on the right.

But most people don't like ice cream as much as I do. They won't travel for it, and they won't go out of their way to get something really special, because they can't neither recognize it nor appreciate it when they finally bump into it. Most people can't even tell the difference between Ben and Jerry's and Hagen Dazs, I think they get confused or even sort of hypnotized by the all the weird names, and they don't remember that Ben and Jerry may have started out making pretty good ice cream long ago in Vermont, but then they sold out to a giant corporation that diluted the brand by adding guar gum and carageenan and other fillers, plus a lot of "over run"  to all the ice cream. You can get plenty of it at a supermarket right down the road from Carl's.

And my opinion is that captious tourists who want "toppings" should skip Carl's entirely; those of us who love Carl's will be happy they went somewhere else. Often there is a line around the building, and no one waiting in that line needs to listen to any strangers whining; it gums up the works.

The view across the street or on either side of Carl's is probably still of a car dealership.

I used to get several quarts of hardpack vanilla on trips north to visit my parents in Woodstock, New York, and I'd pull off the road and eat at least one somewhere way north of the tunnel in Baltimore, at one of those giant rest stops where the food used to be so terrible. At Carl's, the staff's not surly -- they are just used to dealing with people who already know what they want and want it in a hurry. They have to bend over to talk to you through the little window, and they're usually very busy. Also, I am pretty sure the shop is not air conditioned inside. There are two service windows, and both used to be open on busy nights. You can expect a good line all the way around the building on any summer evening, but the line will move along quickly. Be patient, and be sure you get some hard pack.

Talking to the people waiting in line can be very entertaining.  You can ask questions like: "When was the first time you ever came here?" or "Which flavor do you prefer?" or "Do they still put grain alcohol in the custard mix?" or even "Is Carl still alive?"

 I have stopped by Carl's in the middle of winter on a snowy night and found a line around the corner of the building. I think that probably says about all you really need to know.

You can see a picture of Carl's Ice Cream online at http://Iheartconsumerism.blogspot.com

My friend Ed Haile claims his mother was the first to suggest the 15 cent puppy cup to Carl.  Bravo, I say.

Down at the middle Fredericksburg exit -- if you take Route 20 South, you will come to the Wilderness/Chancellorsville Batlefield Visitor Center, and in it you will see (probably it is still there) a gorgeous mural painted by Ethel Magafan, one of Woodstock's better painters. The mural shows Grant and his officers riding over the battlefield surrounded by dead and dying soldiers. It is a gruesome subject, especially for Southerners, because Chancellorsville was where the South really started losing the war -- they lost Jackson, and hubris caused Lee to invade Pennsylvania, where the war was lost for keeps -- but it is nonetheless a wonderful painting. Ethel Magafan is a very good painter; so is her husband Bruce Currie, and so is their daughter Jennie Magafan Currie. Last time I was there, the best view of Ethel's painting, actually, was from halfway back in the women's lavatory. Knock to be sure it is not occupied before you prop open the door, especially during the summer.  I mean, if the mural is still there.