A NOTE FROM ME
Hey Caroline. Fall is doing that thing where the mornings turn crisp and the afternoons still think it's July. Friday night lights are back at Caroline High, the State Fair of Virginia rolls into Doswell this weekend, and the farmers market only has a few Saturdays left before it wraps for the season. Get out there while the getting's good.
THIS WEEKEND'S WEATHER
Friday | High 73, Low 56. Mostly sunny and pleasant. Saturday | High 76, Low 54. Pleasant with periods of sun. Sunday | High 74, Low 56. Partly sunny, with clouds moving in later.
GOOD NEWS: NEIGHBORS BUILDING FOR NEIGHBORS
Central Rappahannock River Habitat for Humanity is picking up the pace on three more homes going up in Ladysmith, and the community showed up to help. Volunteers turned out this past week to frame, paint, and build alongside the families who will live there, the kind of neighbor helping neighbor that doesn't make headlines but changes a family's whole trajectory.
Want to see the progress or lend a hand? Habitat's "1st Saturdays are for Housing" info session is online Saturday, Oct. 3 at 9am via Zoom.
THIS WEEKEND IN CAROLINE
Fri., 5-8pm: Fourth Fridays & Music on the Green (Mike Lucci Band), Downtown Bowling Green. Easy family evening, shops open late. (link)
Fri. through Oct. 4: State Fair of Virginia, 13191 Dawn Blvd., Doswell. Rides, animals, fair food, ten days of it. Great for the kids. (link)
Sat., 9am-1pm: Bowling Green Farmers' Market, Main St. Only a few Saturdays left, last one Oct. 10. (link)
Sat., 10am-2pm: Historic Port Royal Museum & School open house, Port Royal. Free and a nice hour with little historians in tow. (link)
Fri., 7pm: CHS Varsity Football vs. Chancellor, home, region opener. Caroline HS, Milford. (link)
Sat., 9am-12:30pm: Sew, Let's Sew for Beginners (Session 1 of 3), Caroline County Library, Ladysmith Branch. Sign-up required, check with the branch on availability. (carolinelibrary.org)
SCHOOL & LIBRARY
Caroline schools secured state construction money: the Virginia Department of Education awarded the division $9.8 million toward a new elementary school, $3.1 million to expand Caroline Middle and address deferred maintenance, and $1.8 million for deferred maintenance at Madison Elementary, according to the Fredericksburg Free Press. The grants cover about 20% of the estimated project costs. (source)
CHS volleyball is home Tuesday, Sept. 29 and Thursday, Oct. 1, both at 6:30pm.
Storytime, straight from the library's Fall newsletter: Mother Goose Storytime (ages 0-2) meets Tuesdays 10am at Ladysmith and Thursdays 10am at Bowling Green. Preschool Storytime (ages 3-5) meets Thursdays 10am at Ladysmith and 10:30am at Bowling Green. Family Storytime (all ages) meets Wednesdays 10am at the Dawn Branch. (carolinelibrary.org)
Mark your calendar: the library's Banned Books Silent Read-In is Tuesday, Oct. 6, 4-5:30pm at the Bowling Green Branch.
AT THE COUNTY
Update on the Carmel Technology and Enterprise Center rezoning we told you about last issue: the Board of Supervisors voted 4-2 on Tuesday, Sept. 22 to approve it, according to the Fredericksburg Free Press. The vote covered 916 acres in the Reedy Church magisterial district, rezoned from Rural Preservation to Industrial, for a project area between Jericho Road and U.S. Route 1 and along Zion Road and Oxford Road. That is a smaller area than the roughly 1,111 acres reported when the application went to the Planning Commission.
Per the Free Press, board chair Clay Forehand (Madison District), Nancy Long (Port Royal District), Floyd Thomas (Mattaponi District), and Reginald Underwood (Reedy Church District) voted to approve, and Jeff Black (Western Caroline District) and Jeff Sili (Bowling Green District) cast the two dissenting votes. The board's vote came about three and a half weeks after the Planning Commission's Aug. 27 vote of 3-1 to recommend denial (Hodge, Williams, and Rollins voting to deny, Tingler to approve, Horton absent, Young abstaining), as reported last issue.
Ahead of the board's vote, the applicant revised its proffers to include a five-mile public walking trail, a $300,000 contribution toward a splash pad at Lowe-Massie Park, $100,000 to the Career and Technical Education program at Caroline High School, and the Oxford Mount Zion Baptist Church community center that supporters raised at the July hearing. The Free Press reported the developer's projection of 1,800 jobs and $15 million in annual revenue for the county at full buildout.
(Source: Fredericksburg Free Press, Sept. 23, 2026, fredericksburgfreepress.com)
Also tonight, Thursday, Sept. 24, 6:30 to 7:30pm: the Planning Commission meets at the Community Services Center Auditorium in Milford, open to the public. (link)
HELP & NEEDS
Two fundraisers worth the drive Sat., Oct. 3:
ONE FUN FACT ABOUT CAROLINE
Port Royal, right on the Rappahannock, was once one of colonial Virginia's busiest tobacco shipping ports, dating back to the mid-1700s. These days it's a tiny, quiet historic district with one of the oldest continuously operating post offices in the country, and a tavern where George Washington reputedly spent the night. If you're at Saturday's museum open house, you're standing in a piece of history most of the state has forgotten about.
That's all for this week. Thanks for reading.
Did we miss something, or is there an event, a person, or a bit of good news you think belongs in the next issue? Email [email protected] or send a message to our Facebook page, The Caroline Ledger. I read everything, even when I can't fit it all in.