Old Franklin Jail ?

Today, while searching for a couple of old schoolhouses, Jim and I were told about the Franklin Jail still standing in a field. So, naturally, we found it!

Enjoy!

Video Below!

UPDATE! A friend of the site wrote this to me today (10/7/10):

Denny,

I got time this after noon to go up behind the Franklin Baptist Church to look at the block structure that was referred to as the "Old Franklin Jail" in the video on the EIC website.

I asked around and according to JD Roberts who grew up just below there, that used to be used as an old root cellar to store the canned goods etc by the people who lived in the house located beside the block structure.

JD said the house that once stood on the foundation beside the block bldg. belonged to Mary and Dolmus ( spelled as it sounded), he could not remember their last name.

Later, Mary Williams built a house behind there and it to burned at a later time.

Another friend of the site had once asked us about the building featured in this post and told us that she did not ever remember a jail being at this location. This latest information certainly seems to confirm it.

We've gotten it wrong before...and likely will in the future. But we try. Oh yes we do!

Luckily we have friends like these to set us straight.


Note - One of the schoolhouses we were looking for was one near Sweet Home between Franklin and Lacrosse. A video-clip is included at the end of this video. The Sweet Home community served as home to many African-American families...most descended from slaves that once helped bring progress to Izard County. Because of this school's close proximity to Sweet Home, we are pretty sure it was a "colored school".

Sweet Home, Bethlehem A.M.E. Church

Sweet Home cemetery is the resting place of African-American pioneers, slaves, ex-slaves, and their descendants. the cemetery lies about a quarter of a mile from the old Bethlehem A.M.E. Church which was established (as you'll notice on the stone tablet)in 1948 to minister to the dwindling black population of the county in that area. Located between Zion and Lacrosse, this community was situated in the area where the largest slaveholder of the county dwelt. Jim and I decided that the small house might be the parsonage.