Site of the Old Jail

    When Chesnutt lived in Fayetteville the Cumberland County jail and jailer's house stood at the site on Grove Street currently occupied by a restaurant, "The Biscuit Kitchen." The jail described in Chesnutt's short story "The Sheriff's Children" seems to based on this jail.  In this story, set in "Troy," North Carolina ('Branson" county), a highly-respected sheriff and former military colonel, Sheriff Campbell must defend a mulatto from a lynch mob.  In the course of events, he learns that the prisoner, Tom, is his own son by a former slave, Cicely.  The events force the sheriff to confront his own past sins of selling Cicely and Tom.  The sheriff resolves to make amends for his past actions, but his resolve comes too late.  

    In the story, Chesnutt describes the jail in the following passage: 

The Branson County jail was a small, two-story brick building, strongly constructed, with no attempt at architectural ornamentation. Each story was divided into two large cells by a passage running from front to rear. A grated iron door gave entrance from the passage to each of the four cells .

    An essential detail in the story is that the jailer's house stands beside the jail.  In the story, the close proximity of the house to the jail allows the sheriff's daughter, Polly, to arrive at the jail in time to save her father.

    The drawings of the jail and the jailer's house  and the diagram of the jail (Click here to see drawing) show significant similarities between the fictional and real locations. 

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