Carl's Frozen Custard

Carl Sponseller founded a frozen custard stand in 1947. The Art Moderne facade was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 — a roadside monument to the kind of dessert that earns its own lines.

Custard differs from ice cream because it contains eggs. Carl's sells three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry. Electro Freeze machines from the 1940s have produced frozen custard daily since the stand opened. When Carl retired, the business passed to his brothers, Paul and Herbert Sponseller. When they retired, it passed to Ramona Sponseller (Settle), Daniel Sponseller, and Cristina Sponseller (McCann) — still in the family.

The stand has what can only be called a devoted following. The line of customers often stretches around the building, even in bad weather. Carl's is seasonal: closed from the Sunday before Thanksgiving until the Friday of Presidents Day Weekend.

Fredericksburg sits at the fall line of the Rappahannock, where the river stops being navigable for larger vessels. The city developed as a trading center, a port town for exporting tobacco and receiving manufactured goods. Tourism draws approximately 1.5 million visitors annually to the battlefield park, the downtown visitor center, museums, art shops, galleries, and historical sites. Some of them end up in that line stretching around the building.