Hello Listers:

The foundations of two of the early jails were recently encountered during
construction of a memorial wall on the grounds of the Chesterfield County
Court House, Virginia.  Being the good researcher and steward of our
historic resources I knew this construction was going to encounter them,
and was able to monitor the work .  Until I had to go on vacation, that
is.  It was during my absence, though, that the foundations were hit and
someone else took pictures that I have yet to see.

Needless to say, the county is very interested in learning more abut these
foundations and even marking their locations as they are part of the deep
history of the site, listed on the National Register.  The construction did
very little damage, and I hope to be able to do a bit of archaeology in the
near future to further explore the sites.  I am the one responsible for
doing the interpretation of these sites, so I need to learn all about
county jails and the archaeology of them.

Two major foundations were found: 1) the granite foundation of a jail built
in 1842 and taken down in 1892 (stone was reused for the "1892 Jail" we
have in our collection of historic Buildings) and 2) the very stout brick
foundation of a jail that mentioned in an 1805 survey.

The 1842 - 1892 jail is somewhat well-documented, but for the earlier jail
I am apparently the first to note its existence, as others never noted it
or if they had seen the record they never plotted out the metes and bounds
and thus never figured out its location!  Although we now refer to this new
find as the "1805 Jail" it is likely that it was here earlier than that,
perhaps back to near the founding of the County in 1749.

The primary importance of this "1805" jail is that it may be the jail which
housed a series of Baptist Ministers, including John Weatherford, in the
early 1770s:
http://www.wmbcrichmond.org/weatherford/weatherford.htm
http://www.victorianvilla.com/sims-mitchell/local/articles/phsp/005/

Bricks said to be of this Weatherford period jail were found in the 1930s
when some landscaping was being done around the Baptist Preacher Monument
on the Court House Grounds, and what was found just recently was but about
30 feet from that spot (thus placing the monument just outside of the jail
site!)

The Court House Grounds and buildings are on the National Register of
Historic Sites, and the grounds are sure to be loaded with all sorts of
archaeological features, including the site of the pre-1749 tavern which
was here before the roads were realigned to make the Court House Square,
the various jails and other small outbuildings and stables, stocks or
pillory, and a well, not to mention that Von Steuben had a massive
encampment across the road in the Amer. Rev. and which the British burned
with the Court House in 1781, and that the Court House was devastated in
1865 after the fall of Richmond.  The hanging grounds with gallows and
cemetery were next door, probably covered by the present administration
buildings and police station!

Has anyone done work on excavating similar situations?  How deep should I
expect these foundations to go?  How thick are the walls?  Internal
features to look for?  Size?  Artifacts?  Changes through time?

This is a very rural location, but still the government center of the
region, and the jails were only about 40 feet square, not like at
Williamsburg, or a city penitentiary, but reference to research at such
sites would be appreciated also.

The 1892 Jail:
http://members.aol.com/chesterfieldhs/jail.jpg

        Dan W.
        Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia