This aerial view of Rock Stop and Cottage Woods, in the cleared area, was taken last fall. An edge of Haymount is at the top. PHOTO COURTESY ALEX LONG

The cleared area is mostly flat and grass-covered. The main house is in the distance. PHOTO COURTESY ALEX LONG

The smaller Cottage Woods house backs up to a wooded area of the property. PHOTO COURTESY ALEX LONG

Many of the interior features of the main house at Rock Stop are original to its 1791 construction. PHOTO COURTESY ALEX LONG

A barn, which is being repainted, and other outbuildings are located on the adjacent Cottage Woods property. PHOTO COURTESY ALEX LONG

The house was built to last, but a new owner would probably want to pursue a renovation project. PHOTO COURTESY ALEX LONG

The porch, now screened, made a worthwhile addition to the 1791 farmhouse at Rock Stop Farm. PHOTO COURTESY ALEX LONG

Rock Stop Farm in Caroline County awaits its next owner

Date published: 5/9/2008

BY RICHARD AMRHINE

On a perfect early May day, Rock Stop Farm is Eden-like. Acres of freshly mowed lawn with scattered mature trees graduate to more acreage of natural grassland, which is backed by many more acres of near-virgin hardwood forest.

White clapboard homes, barns and other outbuildings stand in contrast to the sea of green under a near-cloudless blue sky.

Rock Stop Farm and its companion property, Cottage Woods, are nestled along that strand of Caroline County between Fort A.P. Hill and the Rappahannock River. The address is 22335 Hicks Landing Road in the Rappa-hannock Academy area, just north of U.S. 17 and about 20 minutes from Fredericksburg. Port Royal lies four miles farther down U.S. 17.

Rock Stop is the larger of the two properties at 112 acres, with a house that dates to 1791. There is 180 feet of frontage on the Rappahannock but no easy river access. The topography starts out flat, but quickly becomes hilly in the surrounding forest and drops off sharply into the river valley.

Nearby Hicks Landing provides ready river access.

Cottage Woods, the neighboring property, totals 30 acres and includes a smaller house and barn.

The properties are listed for sale with Alex Long of Weichert Realtors in Fredericksburg and can be sold separately or together. Rock Stop Farm has an asking price of $1.15 million, while Cottage Woods is priced at $495,000.

Though it can be seen only through bare trees, the properties abut the dormant 1,700-acre Haymount development, which enjoys much greater river frontage. Proffered by the developers of that project was a 900-acre green-space buffer between it and Rock Stop Farm.

The meaning of the term Rock Stop, and whether it relates to the steamboat traffic that carried tobacco and other goods down the river and north to Baltimore, is unclear. The known history of the property reaches back to 1722, when Richard Buckner gained title to 4,500 acres along the river that included part of what is now Fort A.P. Hill. He served in the House of Burgesses from Caroline after the county was established in 1727, and died in 1733 or '34.

Date published: 5/9/2008