Historic Lawrenceville Jail
Built in 1832 and used to hold prisoners for more than a century, the squat concrete jail still stands in an alley just off Lawrenceville's courthouse square. In 1848 it held Elleck, an enslaved man who turned himself in after killing his enslaver, Colonel James Austin, in what he said was self-defense; convicted in one of only two trials of enslaved men ever held in Gwinnett County, he was sentenced to hang. Chained to the floor by his wrists and ankles, he is said to have chipped at the cell wall with a metal slat from his bed and sung a mournful song for his beloved Betsy before he was taken to the gallows that November. Tour-goers today report a second voice joining theirs when they sing in his cell, along with cold spots, orbs in photographs, tugged clothing, and untied shoelaces. A shallow indentation worn into the concrete wall remains as quiet evidence of a desperate man's last attempt to break free.
📍 Just west of the historic courthouse square, off an alley near McCray's Tavern, downtown Lawrenceville, GA, Lawrenceville, GA · Get directions