{"nrhp_refnum":"76002087","name":"Debtors' Prison","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"VA 764","address_restricted":false,"city":"Accomac","county":"Accomack County","state":"VA","lat":37.71998371400008,"lon":-75.67090969999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-11-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small one-story brick building in the village of Accomac, Accomack County, Virginia, near the county courthouse. It was built in 1783 as a jailer's house and converted to a debtors' prison in 1824.","why_significant":"It is described as a rare example of an eighteenth-century penal structure in Virginia and the oldest public building in Accomack County. It is the only survivor of a complex that once included a jail and a walled jailyard. The area of significance includes architecture and social/humanitarian history, with penology listed.","narrative":"Standing on a small lot in the village of Accomac near the county courthouse, this 18-by-30-foot brick building is the oldest public structure in Accomack County. It was built in 1783 as the jailer's house for a county jail and a seventy-foot-square brick jailyard. The walls are laid in Flemish bond with glazed headers, and the interior follows a simple hall-and-parlor plan. In 1824, after a new state law required separate facilities for debtors, the county added iron window lattices and heavy batten doors and turned the house into a debtors' prison. It served that purpose until imprisonment for debt was abolished in Virginia. The jail and yard wall were demolished in 1909, leaving this building as the only survivor. The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities took custody that year, restored it partly in 1911 and more fully in 1953, and used it as a library from 1911 to 1927. It is now a museum of county history.","period_of_significance":"1700-1799, 1800-1899 (specific dates 1783; 1824)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Currently in use as a museum of Accomack County history; in good condition, partially restored in 1911 and more thoroughly in 1953.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.69627-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/25/6792/41679225/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/76002087.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002087/93c7187e54-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002087/93c7187e54-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Ser Amantio di Nicolao at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AccomacPrison.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ser Amantio di Nicolao at en.wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AccomacPrison.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"82004529","name":"Accomac Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/accomac-historic-district-82004529/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679225","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debtors%27_Prison_(Accomac,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5248623"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/accomack-county/debtors-prison-76002087/"}