Rings On The Floor Lumpkins Jail

In richmond s shockoe bottom river district the notorious.

Rings on the floor lumpkins jail. It wasn t because lumpkin was the largest slave trader in the area for over twenty years although he was. Robert lumpkin was a notorious and prominent slave trader who bought and sold slaves throughout the south and turned lumpkin s jail into the largest slave. But there is so much more it is important in terms of both local and american history. Razed in the 1870s or 80s the jail and lumpkin s other buildings were long buried beneath a parking lot for university students part of it lost forever under a roaring strip of interstate 95.

Lumpkin s jail also known as the devil s half acre was a holding facility or slave jail located in richmond virginia just three blocks from where the capitol building sits today it was active from the 1830s through the civil war. Back to robert lumpkin s jail and how it earned its nickname. 2 reviews of lumpkin s slave jail this is a piece of history that should not be overlooked nor be forgotten. Contributed by matthew r.

The rings in the floor to. The slave trader bacon tait owned the property first followed by lewis a. The place called lumpkin s slave jail was indeed a jail but it was much more than that. It was a holding pen for human chattel.

Lumpkin s jail managed to thrive even during the upheaval of the civil war but the end of the conflict marked the demise of robert lumpkin s lucrative business.