Tuesday 25th. Set out from General Spotswoods about Sun Rising and breakfasted at the Bowling green.
Where, meeting with Mr. Holmes (a neat, and supposed to be a good farmer) I was informed by him that from experience he had found that the best method of raising clover (in this Country) was to sow it on Wheat in Jany. when the ground was lightly covered with snow having never failed by this practice—whereas fall sowing is often injured by wet, and frost and Spring sowing by drought.
Dined at Rawlins and lodged at Hanover Court House.
The forepart of the day was clear and warm, but the latter part was showery and cooler—Wind westerly but not much of it.
In 1774 John Hoomes, a descendant of one of the first families to settle in Caroline County, received a license to operate an ordinary “in his new buildings at Bowling Green” (, 13, 219, 413). One year after this visit by GW, Hoomes entertained Samuel Vaughan, an English agriculturist and a friend of GW’s, who noted that “Mr. Homes who furnished the Stages owns the Bowling green. His farm is in small enclosures well fenced a ditch & rows of handsome red ceder in the fence, kept neat & in prime order. The best cultivated of any on the road” (, 43).
rawlins: probably the tavern GW had earlier referred to as “Clarkes” (see entry for 4 May 1785). Rawlins may have been the tavern keeper in 1786. In 1781 a French officer referred to the “very fine and large inn” located at Hanover Court House (, 2:101).