Template:Wp-Caroline County, Virginia-History

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Founding, and colonial era

Caroline County was established in the British Colony of Virginia in 1727 from parts of Essex, King and Queen, and King William counties. It was named for Caroline of Ansbach, the wife of King George II of Great Britain, who had recently taken the British throne.

During the Colonial Period, Caroline County was the birthplace of Thoroughbred horse racing in North America. Arabian horses were imported from England to provide the basis for American breeding stock. The economy was based on tobacco cultivation as a commodity crop, and later mixed crops, much of which was worked by enslaved Africans and African Americans into the antebellum period.

The planter elite of Virginia became active in seeking independence from Great Britain. Patriot Edmund Pendleton played a large role in the Virginia Resolution for Independence (1775). Caroline native John Penn, who later lived in and represented North Carolina as a delegate, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, albeit as a delegate from North Carolina.

19th century

Explorers William Clark and his slave York were members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803–1805), commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase area west of the Mississippi River. William's older brother, General George Rogers Clark, was considered a conqueror of the old Northwest Territory and a Revolutionary War hero. Both were born near what is now Ladysmith.

In 1847, after being a member of the first graduating class of Virginia Military Institute (VMI), William "Little Billy" Mahone (1826–1895) of Southampton County began teaching at Rappahannock Academy in Caroline County. He was to become prominent as a railroad builder and developer, Confederate general, leader of Virginia's short-lived Readjuster Party, and a United States Senator.

On May 10, 1863, Confederate Lieutenant General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson died of complications from pneumonia at the Chandler plantation in Guinea Station (also known as Guiney's Station), in the unincorporated Caroline County community of Woodford. The Chandler residence has been preserved and is now known as the "Jackson Shrine."

During the American Civil War, Union General Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign, Confederate troops under General George E. Pickett fought Union troops near Milford. Just as the Civil War was concluding in April 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated in Washington, DC as part of a conspiracy to kill the leaders of the United States. As the conspirators fled, a manhunt was launched. After 10 days, in the wee hours of April 26, federal troops tracked down John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, and fellow conspirator David E. Herold at Garrett's farm about 3 miles west of Port Royal. Booth was fatally shot during their capture by federal troops. Herold was returned to Washington, where he was executed by hanging with 3 co-conspirators on July 7, 1865.

20th century

While racial segregation was the law under Jim Crow, in many small communities, residents made friendships across racial lines. In 1958, Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter decided to marry. They went to Washington, DC, but returned to their home in Central Point in this county. Living as a married interracial couple, they challenged state miscegenation laws. They were soon arrested and charged under the state's anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924. Forced to leave the state to avoid jail, they lived in Washington, DC for years but wanted to return home; they filed suit against the state's law. Their case reached the Supreme Court of the United States on appeal, which in 1967 found anti-miscegenation statutes to be unconstitutional in Loving v. Virginia, based on violating due process and equal rights under the law.

At the southern edge of the county, The Meadow, a plantation originally established in 1810, became a premier facility in the 20th century for breeding, raising and training Thoroughbred race horses. In 1972, Riva Ridge, raised and trained at The Meadow, won the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes, two of the three events of the Triple Crown. In 1973 Secretariat, born at The Meadow, won the Triple Crown for the Chenery family's Meadow Stable.

21st century

In 2003, The State Fair of Virginia purchased Meadow Farm for development as a new site for the annual Virginia State Fair. Long held at locations in the capital of Richmond and Henrico County, the fair was increasingly squeezed out by expanding development around it and the growth of the event. Before development of Meadow Farm, it was held at Strawberry Hill in central Henrico County, at the facility which later became the Richmond International Raceway.

Beginning in September 2009, the annual Virginia State Fair has been held at the new Meadow Event Park in Caroline County. The annual Meadow Celtic Games and Festival (formerly Richmond Celtic Games and Festival) will also be held at the new facility.

In 2009 the National Civic League presented Caroline County with one of ten annual All-America City Awards.