Oct 1, 2018 1 min read

Lock and key

from county jail

This lock and key set was found by Frank Willerson in 1867 when the second Washington County jail was razed. The lock weighs 20 pounds and is made of cast iron and brass.

After the county was created in 1781, courts were held in a log house owned by Charles Dodd, located near the present-day Main Street Pavilion. The stable behind the house served as the jail until a proper courthouse and jail were completed in 1787. A new jail was built in 1824-25 with first-floor limestone walls 3 to 4 feet thick, second-story walls 2 feet thick and cells in the basement. When the second jail was determined to be inadequate, a third jail, built of brick and mortar, was designed and completed in 1868 and replaced in 1898, along with the courthouse, until the current jail replaced it.

The lock and key set was donated to the historical society by W.H. McEnrue.

Alice Burroughs volunteers for the Washington County Historical Society and a member of the antiquities committee.