Old Mansion, a splendid specimen of early American architecture, is the oldest continuously inhabited residence in Virginia. Major Thomas Hoomes built it in 1667 and named it "Bowling Green" after his family's ancestral seat in England, "Bolling Green". It kept the name "Bowling Green" until 1803, when Hoomes donated land to build the present courthouse. As the community around the new court area grew, it adopted the estate's name. Hence, the Hoomes estate, already more then 135 years old, began to be referred to as "Old Mansion". Old Mansion, in its almost 320 years of history, has been the scene of many interesting events. Legend says that George Washington and his troops camped in front of the house on their way to Yorktown in 1781. Evidence substantiates that a few weeks later, Washington honored Lafayette with a huge banquet served on the same lawn to celebrate Cornwallis' surrender. Old Courthouse Site (Entrance to A.P. Hill Military Reservation) - Caroline County's courthouse was located on this site from about 1750 to 1803. Here, Edmund Pendleton, one of the twelve in Virginia's "Hall of Immortals", practiced law. Here, John Penn, signer of the Declaration of Independence, received his legal education. Here in 1771, the sheriff whipped two ministers for preaching without a license, and here, the same year, the court imprisoned six other ministers for the same crime. They were held in the adjacent jail until Patrick Henry came from Hanover and secured their release through his eloquence. In 1803, the courthouse of Caroline County was moved to New Hope Tavern, until a new one could be built on a site across the stage road donated by Col. John Waller Hoomes. The present court house was built in 1835. On its walls hang portraits of Edmund Pendleton, Gen. William Woodford and other of Caroline's illustrious sons. Queen Caroline's actual coronation portrait hangs above the Judge's bench-England has but a copy. In the Circuit Court Clerk's office, records may be found pertaining to many of America's most illustrious families.