Bowling Green is a seldom-talked-about place along U.S. 301 that thousands of people drive past every day but only a few stop to visit.   Sitting between Richmond and Washington, it's a bedroom community of sorts, where history lives and architecture is celebrated.

Here, residents have become well-loved characters, but the homes and surrounding architecture - past and present - are at the heart of the stories. There are plenty of tales filled with Queen Anne Victorians, Colonial Revivals and bungalows.

"If you have ever seen 'It's a Wonderful Life,'" said resident Mary Barnett, "that's what Bowling Green is."  People stroll along the sidewalk past Tinder's Jewelry and Gifts to the local florist, a hardware store, a sports shop and a handful of antiques stores.

Downtown is barely a few blocks long. But to find the real charm of this community, visit some of the nearby homes, many of which been given names and birthdays and are colorfully adorned.

For example, there's Kenmare, circa 1880.  Ken and Mary Barnett take care of her.  "My mother has always said that an old house chooses you," Mary Barnett said. "We knew from the moment we saw her she was the one."

Kenmare, painted a golden yellow, burgundy and green, was a birthday present from Ken to Mary on Feb. 21, 2002, that came with one little friendly string attached - Miss Mattye.  "She's a nice ghost," Mary insists.

Martha Pendleton Collins, known as Mattye, was widowed while living at the home with her two young children in the early 1900s, Mary Barnett said. She "appeared" to Mary shortly after the Barnetts moved in and has since made it quite clear she isn't going away anytime soon.

About a mile away, ColumnWood, a more-than-5,000-square-foot former duplex that's now a bed-and-breakfast, has roots leading back to 1910.  Innkeepers Patrick A. DeCrane and Michael E. Thomas share her with guests who travel from as far as Italy and England and as close as Fredericksburg to spend a night in Dr. Broaddus' old digs.

According to DeCrane, someone once offered to pay for the opportunity just to sit on the front-porch swings that look out onto Main Street. Petting the pooch and inn mascot, a Maltese named Niko, is free.  Inside, the home is filled with stained glass and color. There also are pictures of the Broaddus family tucked about the inn.

At the other end of town sits the Bowling Green Farm, which belongs to Steve Nicklin. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places three years ago.  With its circular driveway lined with a canopy of trees and nearby grapevines, the house, originally owned by Maj. Thomas George Hoomes, dates to 1741. Local records show George Washington ate there April 10, 1791.

These days, there are just two places to eat downtown. The Café on Main Street posts daily lunch and dinner specials, and Jack's Cafe specializes in Thai as well as American cuisine.

For those who love to shop, there's Classic Cat, which sells candles and collectibles, and Shop a Doodle Doo with its handmade soaps, jewelry purses and children's toys.

A few blocks away sits the 1835 Caroline County Courthouse and the Bowling Green Visitor Center, where residents recount the town's history, including Bowling Green's ties to the Star Hotel.

As Carolyn Roth tells it, Willie Jett - in some accounts described as a Confederate ranger captain - was staying at the hotel when Union soldiers twisted his arm into taking them to a farm to capture the infamous John Wilkes Booth, who was hiding in a barn.  "Willie didn't have much of a choice," Roth said in Jett's defense. At the time, Booth was on the lam after fatally shooting President Abraham Lincoln in a Washington theater.

Roth also mentioned the fires.  Bowling Green went up in flames twice - once in the 1900s and again in the 1950s. Both times, the fires started on Easter, she said.  "It destroyed blocks of businesses along Main Street," she said. "Officials decided the town would never be destroyed again, so they built all of these block brick buildings."

While these are just some of the town's most well-known stories, Ada Williams and Rebecca Von Elm are two of the community's most interesting people.

Most everyone who lives in Bowling Green knows by now that Williams, who owns Ada's Sew Fine Alterations, can sew like the dickens but sure has a tough time making up her mind.  The 67-year-old has moved her business nine times - for the most part around little old Bowling Green.  (For those still looking for a hem, Williams now is at 100 S. Main St.)

Williams, who learned to thread a needle when she was in kindergarten, mends everything from wedding dresses to doggy clothes. Her motto is never to turn a customer away.  "I don't refuse them," she said. "Because I know that the guy who comes in here with those raggedy jeans, when he gets a suit he knows where to bring it."

Von Elm, owner of the Classic Cat, is not from Bowling Green.  That's clear to just about everyone who comes into her shop. Von Elm refers to herself as an "aging, not old, hippie" from California.

She sells scented candles made of soy, in addition to the traditional Yankee Candles, one-of-a-kind collectible crafts and artwork as well as expensive perfume bottles, some of them with Victorian silver overlay.  "I try not to look like a Hallmark store," she joked.  She doesn't put on any airs or try to mislead folks.  "I am no Southern belle," she said with a laugh.