Carl's Ice Cream
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Carl's Ice Cream (also known as "Carl's Frozen Custard" or, most often, simply "Carl's") is a roadside ice cream stand located at 2200 Princess Anne Street, Fredericksburg, Virginia. Since 2005, the stand, with its Art Moderne architectural facade, has been listed on the Virginia Register of Historic Places.[1],[2]
Carl Sponseller founded Carl's Frozen Custard stand in 1947.[3] Since then, the 1940's era Electro Freeze machines have produced the frozen treat. When served, the ice cream is hand scooped, with a signature “twist” added to the top by the disher. Carl's sells only three flavors (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry), but also offers sundaes, shakes, malts, frozen slushes and slush floats. The stand has what can only be called a devoted following, to the point that the line of customers often stretches around the building, even in bad weather.[4][5] Carl's is closed each year from the Sunday before Thanksgiving until the Friday of Presidents Day Weekend. This is because Sponseller would close the shop each year for hunting season, and the current owners (also Sponseller family members) have continued the tradition.
The soft-serve ice cream is technically not custard, because it does not contain the required minimum level of egg yolks.[6]
