{"nrhp_refnum":"84001950","name":"Camden County Jail","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NC 343","address_restricted":false,"city":"Camden","county":"Camden County","state":"NC","lat":36.32906838500003,"lon":-76.17472990299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-05-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick former county jail in Camden, Camden County, North Carolina, built in 1910 by the Stewart Jail Works Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, through its general agent the Southern Jail Building Company, to replace a jail that burned.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the jail is a well-preserved example of early twentieth century county incarceration and of the work of the Stewart Jail Works Company. Its austere interior, including the second-floor iron cellblock, reflects conditions in small rural county jails. Its small size and brief use reflect the difficulty rural counties had in providing penal facilities.","narrative":"Built in 1910, the former Camden County Jail is a two-story brick building about 29 by 24 feet, with a slate hip roof, segmentally arched windows, corbelled brickwork and iron-barred openings. County commissioners ordered it after the previous jail burned in March 1910, when four prisoners set the building afire. They accepted the lowest bid, from the Stewart Jail Works Company of Cincinnati, which built it for $6,250 and finished it by early June. Inside, iron doors carry the company nameplate, and the second floor holds a freestanding iron cellblock, locally called the bullpen, with eight bunks and controls operated from outside. The jail is significant as an example of county-level incarceration in the early twentieth century and as one of several surviving Stewart Jail Works buildings in North Carolina. Its small size and short period of use reflect the limits of a sparsely populated, agricultural county. By 1951 prisoners were sent to Elizabeth City, and the building has been used for storage. It stands near the 1847 Greek Revival courthouse.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Stewart Jail Works Company / Southern Jail Building Company","architectural_style":"Standard commercial style of the early twentieth century, with a high hip roof more typical of Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","B"],"status_note":"Used for storage at least since September 1951; the county later sent prisoners to the Pasquotank County jail in Elizabeth City.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.255914-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/13/7194/47719413/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/84001950.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84001950/6693b4091b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84001950/6693b4091b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camden_County_Jail_and_museum.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camden_County_Jail_and_museum.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719413","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden_County_Jail","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18148770"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/camden-county/camden-county-jail-84001950/"}