Carl’s is a 2nd generation frozen custard stand, and remains a ritual stop for native Fredericksburgers.
It was opened by Carl and Margaret Sponseller in 1953 in a former gas station along US 1, the busiest N/S highway in the US at the time.
Frozen custard takes soft ice cream, mixes it with eggs, and then the mixture is cooked before it is frozen.
The 3 flavors – vanilla, chocolate and strawberry – are still the same recipes, and have been churning out of the same machine since the 1940’s.
If the pale chocolate has a really familiar taste to you, that’s because they use Hershey syrup in the mix. There’s real malts and hot fudge sundaes, too.
Though we are admitted chocoholics, we actually favored the strawberry, because it tasted like you were biting into a real strawberry – because it IS made with fresh fruit.
200 Princess Anne St., Fredericksburg
VA Exit 130
Seasonal: End of February-End of November