The Fauquier History Museum’s most prized artifacts are the two jail buildings themselves. Notably, these jails hold the distinction of being the 6th oldest continually-used prisons in the country. The first of the two jails, made of handmade brick, contains four cells and served as a place of incarceration from 1808 until 1823. Subsequently, a second stone jail was erected directly behind the older structure, while the original 1808 jail was repurposed into a living space for a jailer and his family. A stone kitchen addition was appended to the earlier jail.

Over the course of 216 years, these jail buildings have borne witness to the incarceration of countless individuals for a diverse array of crimes, as well as to the many jailers who supervised their confinement. Visitors are invited to wander through the old jail cells, allowing the echoes of the past illuminate the rich history of Fauquier County.