Kristen Adams
REALTOR®
Fredericksburg38.0300° N 77.3500° W
Caroline.
30,887 residents across 532 square miles, seated at Bowling Green.
One of 6 areas our Fredericksburg team works.
At a glanceBowling Green
The publicrecord.
What the county and the census hold on Caroline — quoted, not estimated.
One of the last genuinely rural stretches along the I-95 corridor — over 90% of the county's land is zoned for farming or forestry, though only about a fifth of it is actively farmed. Fort Anderson-Pinn-Hill occupies a substantial share of the county: nearly 76,000 acres, including a 27,000-acre live-fire range the Army calls its premier year-round training site.
The base's name has moved twice in three years. Originally named for Confederate General A.P. Hill, it was renamed Fort Walker in 2023 for Medal of Honor recipient Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, then redesignated again in August 2025 — the letters "A.P. Hill" now stand for Anderson-Pinn-Hill, honoring three Union Civil War Medal of Honor recipients instead.
Growth is real but managed: population is climbing toward 34,000, and the county has approved planned residential communities for up to 10,000 homes.
- Type
- County
- County seat
- Bowling Green
- Population (2020)
- 30,887
- Land area
- 532 sq mi
- Communities we cover
- 5
- Established
- 1727
- Real estate tax rate (FY2026)
- $0.58 per $100
Figures from Wikidata, population as of 2020. The tax rate is published by the county and set annually; check the current year before budgeting.
Where it is38.0300° N 77.3500° W
Where isCaroline?
The nearest of our other Fredericksburg areas is King George, 19 miles off.
44 mi
Central Fredericksburg
south of center
37 mi
Richmond
south
46 mi
Northern Neck
east
58 mi
Williamsburg
south-east
Distances are straight-line, not driving.
Getting around.
I-95 crosses the county, and three older US highways still carry most of the local traffic.
I-95
With exits at Carmel Church and Ladysmith.
US-1, US-17 and US-301
Cross the county, meeting at the Port Royal crossroads.
Richmond International Airport
About 30 miles.
Fort Anderson-Pinn-Hill
Nearly 76,000 acres, including a 27,000-acre live-fire training range — a genuinely large share of the county's land.
Inside the county5 communities
Every communitywe cover.
5 of them have homes on the market today. Each figure is live, and opens that search.
- 13Bowling GreenSee the homes
The county seat, and a National Register Historic District since 2003 with 169 contributing buildings.
- 6MilfordSee the homes
Site of the Battle of Milford Station, fought 21 May 1864.
- 8Port RoyalSee the homes
A Rappahannock River village and National Register Historic District — about 30 eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings — near where John Wilkes Booth was killed in 1865.
- 1LadysmithSee the home
An unincorporated community at I-95 Exit 110.
- 101Ruther GlenSee the homes
Sits at I-95 and Route 207, near Kings Dominion.
Living here6 reasons
The case forCaroline.
The figures above read plainly, and what they look like day to day. Where something is a trade-off, it says so.
Space
58 people to the square mile.
Nothing else we work in Fredericksburg is more open: of the 6 areas we hold both figures for, Caroline is the least crowded. If room is what you are buying, this end of the market is where it is.
Scale
30,887 people, as of 2020.
The 2nd smallest of the 6 Fredericksburg areas we hold a count for. Fewer houses change hands here in a year, and that cuts both ways — less to choose from, less to compete with.
The line that matters
Caroline, seated at Bowling Green.
In Virginia the county sets the rate, runs the school division and maintains the roads — and the lines do not follow the place names, so two houses a mile apart can sit under different rates and different schools.
A name that changed twice
The Army base shares Caroline's name, three times over.
Named for Confederate General A.P. Hill, renamed Fort Walker in 2023, then redesignated Fort Anderson-Pinn-Hill in August 2025 — the same letters, now honoring three Union Medal of Honor recipients.
Still mostly rural
Over 90% of the county's land can be farmed or forested.
Only about a fifth of it actually is — the rest is the open land that keeps Caroline feeling rural even this close to I-95.
Where Booth was caught
John Wilkes Booth was killed near Port Royal.
Lincoln's assassin died at Garrett's Farm outside the village on 26 April 1865 — one of several pieces of real Civil War history along the Rappahannock here.
SchoolsCaroline County Public Schools
Schools andcolleges.
4,602 students across five schools, in Germanna Community College's service area.
Caroline County Public Schools
Three elementary schools, one middle and one high school.
Germanna Community College
Serves Caroline, though it has no campus inside the county itself.
Outdoors2 of them
Where theweekends go.
Four rivers drain the county, and the historic river town of Port Royal sits on the biggest of them.
The Rappahannock, Mattaponi, North Anna and Pamunkey rivers
All cross or border the county.
Port Royal
A 200-acre National Register historic district on the Rappahannock.
On the market152 in Caroline · live
Homes on themarket now.
On the market in Caroline right now.
Live from search.hogangrp.com, refreshed hourly.
All Caroline listingsSearchsearch.hogangrp.com · Live MLS
Homes inCaroline.
The search opens already filtered to Caroline — set a price and a bedroom count here and they travel with you.
See matching homes
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Your team3 in Fredericksburg
People who livewhere they sell.
The Fredericksburg team covers every one of these areas.
Nearby5 more in Fredericksburg
The rest ofFredericksburg.
Same team, same standard, 5 other places — nearest first.
Questions5 answered
What peopleask us.
Asked often enough by people moving to Caroline to be worth answering in writing.
Rural, and staying that way in most of the county even as growth arrives along the I-95 corridor — over 90% of the land is zoned for farming or forestry.
Still operating as a major Army training installation, though its name changed twice recently — Fort Walker from 2023, then redesignated in 2025 so the letters "A.P. Hill" now honor three Union Medal of Honor recipients rather than the Confederate general.
$0.58 per $100 of assessed value for FY2026, up six cents from the year before.
Caroline County Public Schools — 4,602 students across five schools. Germanna Community College serves the area.
Population is climbing toward 34,000, and the county has approved planned residential communities for up to 10,000 homes — real growth, but concentrated rather than sprawling.
Sources · checked September 14, 2026
Tax rate · School division · Fort renaming · Fort facility · Port Royal · Bowling Green · County profile
Thinking of selling
What is your Caroline homeactually worth?
Mike Hogan founded the brokerage on knowing the county rather than the listing. Ask what that means for this street — or take a cash offer from a local investor and skip the showings entirely. Neither route commits you to the other.