Friday, December 26, 2013. Anxious to continue our tour, we took the day after Christmas to travel further into Virginia. The destinations are farther from home now, so it requires more planning to take a "journey day". Today's trip took us to Fauquier and Culpeper Counties. We had visited lovely
Warrenton in the summer, but had not visited any historical spots.
We took the opportunity to visit the
Old Jail (or "Old Gaol") Museum. It's hard to believe that prisoners wouldn't go crazy being in such a place. The rooms were damp and tiny. Some rooms had no heat. All prisoners were imprisoned together, regardless of the crime. The gallows was located in the recreation yard between the two buildings. This is also the home of a Fauquier County museum. Very interesting displays of the county in its early days and Civil War days. It was a short visit, affording us time to continue the tour further south on Route 15 into Culpeper.
This is not a real prisoner, but shows the conditions of the jail in the 1800s.
Below,
The Fauquier County Courthouse on Main Street.
As always, check out my links for current information on these historic sites.
