CAMDEN, N.C. - I recently visited the Camden County Heritage Museum & Historic Jail. I got a tour from Museum Curator Brian Forehand and a history lesson from Alex Leary, the Camden County Historian.
"You need a museum that tells the history of your county from day one to this day right now. If not, it's going to be forgotten" says Forehand.
The Camden County Heritage Museum is full of local history from the county’s start in 1777 to the Civil War Battle of South Mills to Moses Grandy and the Great Dismal Swamp. "This was where the history of the United States began, right here in Camden County because we were on the water" says Forehand.
Next to the museum is the Historic Jail, built in 1910. But this isn’t the first county jail at this location. The previous found a fiery fate.
"We found out that four prisoners tried to escape one time. So, they set the jail on fire. They almost burned themselves up because the sheriff was up the road that had the key." Leary tells me "He got there just in time to turn those men out of the jail."
I declined Mr. Leary’s challenge to stay the night in the old jail, but he insisted that I try out the stocks.
The Camden County Heritage Museum & Historic Jail are near the County Courthouse on Highway 343. The museum is open Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
