When the Blockhouse Road Courthouse, located 3 miles southwest of here, burned to the ground in 1937, the new Courthouse was built at this intersection of the Fredericksburg and Brock roads on property conveyed from tavern owner, Lewis Rawlings.

     The Jail was relocated in June of 1839, with the acceptance of the “new Courthouse”. Bricks, irons and timbers from the Blockhouse Road jail were used in the construction. That jail, positioned just downgrade from this location, burned in 1853. Salvaged brick was used to erect a wall around two sides of the Courthouse lot.

     In March 1855 the Virginia Herald reported that the jail contractor and “new” tavern owner, Joseph Sanford, had nearly completed “a top notch public facility for administration of justice in the County” at a cost of approximately $3000.00. It was formally accepted the next year and remained in use as a jail until 1943.

(Caption of picture, lower left): Women At Jail Door, May 6, 1887; Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Va.

(Caption of picture, lower right): Spotsylvania Jail, WPA, July 1931, The Library of Virginia

Marker is at the intersection of Courthouse Road (Virginia Route 208) and American Legion Drive, on the left when traveling south on Courthouse Road.

Courtesy hmdb.org

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