The old Tattnall County Jail is now the official home of the county’s historical records and artifacts.

The county was about to tear down the jail to make room for a courthouse parking lot when the local historical society intervened. The society won approval to transform the jail into an archive and research facility. With a grant from the Georgia Archives Department, they were able to hire an architect to identify the necessary changes and repairs. Work on the building itself was completed last year.

At that point the real work began. Local volunteers, with assistance from the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah, began the monumental job of moving, sorting and cataloging thousands of old records and documents.

"The third floor of the Tattnall County courthouse has literally piles of records all mixed together," remembers Ruth Anderson, one of the volunteers involved in the effort. "Many of the windows were out and the pigeons and rain were coming in. Much of the material was on the verge of being lost forever."

Documents had to be handled very carefully, and workers had to use all acid-free materials in their work. Once all the materials were in order, community volunteers were assigned various duties to bring order to the process.

The historical society has just received another grant that will allow it to input these documents into a computer. That work will begin this fall, and once it is complete, the facility will be available as a research center.

"We’ve already received calls and request from a number of folks," said Anderson. " We’re looking forward to the day we can share all of this with our community."