Old Stone Jail Museum

The Old Stone Jail Museum is a former stone jail built in 1828 that now houses Fluvanna County’s first museum. This building was used as the County Jail until the 1940s. After a new jail was built and in use, a group of Fluvannians started a project to convert the jail into a museum. In 1957 Virginia Jones Snead and other dedicated volunteers opened the first displays to the public. In 1963 the Old Stone Jail Museum opened permanently, filled with donations and loans of historic interest. The Old Stone Jail building is owned by the County and is operated by the Fluvanna Historical Society which maintains the collections and creates the exhibits. 

Current Exhibitions:

The Words They Left Behind: Legacies of Bremo

This incredible exhibit highlights artifacts used by those enslaved at Bremo, noted Fluvanna plantation built by John Hartwell Cocke, and features letters written by five of the enslaved men and women there, and read aloud by their descendants, including Horace Scruggs and Joe Creasy. Read more about this exhibit here: https://fluvannareview.com/2023/10/new-exhibit-features-letters-written-by-the-enslaved/ 

Coming soon – a documentary by Horace J. Scruggs about this incredible exhibit and how it came to be. See the trailer here.

Historic Palmyra: the Heart of Fluvanna 

A celebration of the village that became the county seat, including a miniature model of the Village circa 1930. 

Through the Years: Fluvanna Family History

An exploration of daily life in Fluvanna a century ago, from farm living, businesses, and school life. 

To Arms, Sons of Old Flu

A tribute to the county’s military history and the veterans that served from Fluvanna.

The History of the Old Stone Jail 

After Fluvanna County was established in 1777, its first jail and courthouse were built at Napier’s Ford, about 1.5 miles southwest of Palmyra. Reverend Walker Timberlake, who owned much of the land in Palmyra donated four acres to the county for a new jail and courthouse when the buildings at Napier’s Ford needed major repairs. The Old Stone Jail was built in 1828, designed by General John Hartwell Cocke and built by John G. Hughes and Richard McCary. Cocke was a self-taught architect and close friend of Thomas Jefferson, and he owned and designed Bremo Plantation on the James River in Bremo Bluff as well as Fluvanna County’s Historic Courthouse, built in 1830. 

The architecture of the Old Stone Jail is inspired by the Palladian style, which was a huge influence on General Cocke and Thomas Jefferson, and can be seen at their respective homes at Bremo Plantation and Monticello. The jail features mouse tooth cornicing around the roofline. General Cocke’s highly skilled enslaved stone masons from his estate at Bremo cut the blocks by hand and on close examination, you can see their “dressing” marks, patterns on the stones unique to each mason that acted as a sort of signature to indicate who did what work. The stones likely originated from Cowherd’s Quarry in Columbia, and were transported by river, dragged up from the landing at Palmyra using Walker Timberlake’s stone sled.

The jail is symmetrical and consisted of six rooms, with a cell on either side of a central room, on both of its two stories.  The entrance room was likely an “office” for the jailer. It was dark and cold in the winter with only shutters to keep out the cold. Glass was added to the windows in 1869. Fireplaces were initially used for heat, with wood stoves added later to each room. The original floors were brick. The center room upstairs was used as a bedroom for the jailer (there was originally a wall separating the bedroom area that has been removed). It was used as a jail until the mid 1940s.

After 1950 when the old jail was no longer to be used as such, a group of Fluvannians started a project to convert the jail into a museum. In 1957 Virginia Jones Snead and other dedicated volunteers opened the first displays to the public. In 1963 the Old Stone Jail Museum opened permanently, filled with donations and loans of historic interest. The Old Stone Jail building is owned by the County and is operated by the Fluvanna Historical Society which maintains the collections and exhibits. 

To see the 3D scan project done on the Old Stone Jail by UVA students, see: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4186e6dac0014be2a265298e9b129350