Historic Hancock County Jail and Museum burns

More Than A Day Away By Mike Steely

The history of East Tennessee’s Hancock County is different than any other county. Sneedville is the only incorporated town in the very rural county and, until recently, was proud of its very old jail, which has been repurposed by the Hancock County Historical and Genealogical Society.

The brick jail and the museum were totally destroyed by a 3 a.m. fire on Monday, April 14, that was considered “suspicious” by Sheriff Brad Brewer.

“I am heartbroken,” HCHGS Vice President Katherine Wallen Cantwell told The Focus. “That was like my second home, and as I watched some of it burning, I felt like a part of me went up in those flames, too.”

The old jail, at 120 Jail Street in Sneedville, was built in the 1860s and housed prisoners until the 1990s. The building was on the National Register of Historic Places and was one of the oldest buildings in the town.

I remember visiting the old jail back in the 1970s and interviewing Hancock County’s first and only female sheriff, Ora Seal, who was appointed to finish the term of her husband, Sheriff Kyle Seal, following his death. Other stories led me to Hancock County during that decade, and I’ve always been fascinated by its people and history. It is a storied, rural, and somewhat isolated area wedged between Hawkins County and the Virginia state line.

The area is the homeland of the Melungeons, a mixed-race people who were apparently descendants of early Spanish soldiers of various bloodlines, Native Americans and runaway African American slaves. Settlers of Tennessee and Kentucky puzzled over this population already living in the upper East Tennessee counties before settlement.

The loss of the museum and its inventory is very sad. It stored genealogy, local records, old letters and postcards, newspaper articles, recorded oral history and local church records. The jail was made of handmade bricks and back in the day, the sheriff and his family would live in the jail and the wife cooked meals for the prisoners.

“Our county mayor, Thomas Harrison, has graciously worked with our society and already has a place in mind for us to use and call our home,” Cantwell shared.

“A few artifacts were saved along with some books, and we will rebuild and start over with what we have. We have an outpouring of Hancock people who are willing to help us in various ways, including providing us with their genealogy.  We are certainly blessed with good people in the county.”

Donations for the recovery fund can be sent to Hancock County Historical Society, P.O. Box 307, Sneedville, TN 37869.