Current Photo Friday theme: Inside
Inside Old Houston Jail
Houston, Alabama
In the 1850s, when Houston was the county seat of Winston County, Alabama, a jail was constructed. That jail was burned during the Civil War and was rebuilt in 1868. Its two narrow rooms were constructed from logs filled with horseshoe nails to prevent prisoners from being able to saw their way to freedom. Small, barred windows at each end of both rooms provided the only ventilation, and the small hole beneath the window was used as the “sanitary facility.”
Having fallen into disrepair when the county seat was relocated, and at one time used as a residence, the jail is now part of an ongoing restoration project managed by the Houston Historical Society in consultation with the Alabama Historical Commission.
Is it sad I’m so self-centered that I read the comment and thought, “Wow! Houston’s first jail was on Alabama? How’d I miss that all these years?”
As long as you’re not one of the people who stubbornly mispronounces Houston Street in Manhattan, you’re good.
Eww… wouldn’t like to be locked up in there!
I know! It was sweltering inside.