LUMPKIN'S HISTORIC OLD JAIL OPEN TO VISITORS ON JULY

Post date: Jul 01, 2014 1:32:49 PM

The 1884 Lumpkin County Jail & Museum will be open on Friday, July 4, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. for tours conducted by members of the Lumpkin County Historical Society.

The building, which served as the county jail until 1964 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, is located on Enota Street next to the Cannery Art Center two blocks east of Dahlonega’s Historic Public Square. The second floor jail cells remain as they were when the jail was in operation.

The Museum displays include household items that would have been used in the 1800s and early 1900s, artifacts from daily life during those times, a home-brew still, and vintage photographs including gold mining scenes, historical buildings and significant events. Open to the public for the first time will be the exhibit of Nina Head's spinning wheel, which was recently donated to the Historical Society. Also among the newest additions to the items in the jail is a cardboard cutout of a picture of Bill Miner (also known as the Gentleman Bandit and the Grey Fox), the most famous resident of the Historic Old Jail. For more information about the Old Jail, go to http://www.lumpkinhistory.org/jail-museum.