July is National Ice Cream Month. Ice cream is a modern invention, but there are reports of frozen food back to 500 B.C. These were more ices than creams, chopped ice mixed with fruits. Until refrigeration became commonplace ice cream was a rare treat, made by churning a mixture of eggs, cream and sugar in a tub immersed in salt. George Washington ate ice cream; Dolley Madison served ice cream at the 1813 Inaugural Ball. Even in modern times, "ice boxes" and early refrigerators could not freeze food. By the 1930s technology had advanced, it was possible to freeze and ship large quantities of food. During World War II ice cream was sent to Allied troops to boost their morale.

Ever wonder about Eskimo Hill Road in Stafford? It was named for Luther "Eskimo" Hodge who sold Eskimo pies, the chocolate covered ice cream bars, in Richmond, as a child. Mr. Hodge operated a 24-hour diner on the Jefferson Davis Highway.

In 1947 Carl Sponseller brought frozen custard to Fredericksburg. The special mix and "secret" ingredients are whipped by Electro-Freeze machines. Carl's was included in a PBS documentary, "An Ice Cream Show." The mid-century modern structure was built in 1953 by Ashton Skinner and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. Generations of devotees have stopped at Carl's on their way up and down the East Coast. Mr. Sponseller always closed Carl's for hunting season. To this day, Carl's closes the Sunday before Thanksgiving and reopens the Friday of Presidents' Weekend. Many families stock up on the frozen custard, chocolate, vanilla or strawberry, for the winter holidays. Mr. Sponseller died in 2005, but Carl's remains in the Sponseller family

The Heritage Center has a copy of the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc.'s oral history with Carl and Margaret Sponseller in 1997. We also have a copy of De'Onne C. Scott's book, "Stafford, Images of America," with a photo of the Eskimo Hill Dinner.