Free (rare) open house of two fascinating historic properties in Dallas, NC

Have you ever dreamed of owning an old jail? No? Well, think about it! The historic Dallas Jail, in Dallas, North Carolina, is up for sale. This unique building could be adapted to a one-of-a-kind restaurant or retail space.

Or…just a thought…it could be converted into a music venue called “The Slammer.” Some of the old cells could be upgraded to provide accommodations for touring musicians or for travelers. You could sell t-shirts that say “I spent the night in the Slammer.” Take this idea and run with it. (Just save me a seat for the first concert.)

There’s a free open house for the Dallas Jail, 108 East Trade Street, Dallas, and another historic property along Court Square in Dallas, The Smyre-Pasour House, 113 North Holland Street, Dallas, on Saturday, July 10th, 2021, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. At the same time, there will be a presentation and book signing by the authors of the new book, Jean Laffite Revealed: Unraveling One of America’s Longest Running Mysteries, at the Gaston County Museum, 131 W. Main Street.

The open house is for both potential buyers and history buffs.

My friends at Forgotten Abandoned Carolinas have been traveling around the Carolinas, taking photographs, and telling the stories, about the places that have been left behind, and they visited Dallas Jail in June of this year. Read this story (and many others) and see all their pictures on their Facebook Page. You can also follow them on Instagram.

Forgotten Abandoned Carolinas is a mother/daughter writer/photography team of Donna Welch Earnhardt and Kaitlin Earnhardt.

Besides the old Dallas Jail, Forgotten Abandoned Carolinas has covered the old Naval Hospital in Charleston, the old Crowder’s Mountain General Store, Pharr Mill in Harrisburg, Happy Lake in Rockwell and many more sites.

The photos in this article are shared with permission of Forgotten Abandoned Carolinas, and Shifting Art Photography.

It’s easy to focus on the light side of “abandoned, forgotten places,” but it’s important to remember the very real people who lived, and in some cases, suffered, in those places. That’s one thing that Abandoned Forgotten Carolinas offers — a chance to learn the history of the Carolinas, which is often heartbreaking.

When they visited the Dallas Jail, they learned a dark history, that of a young African-American woman, Caroline Shipp, who was convicted, quite possibly wrongly, of killing her young son. She spent eight months in the Dallas Jail and then was hanged. Read more about this disturbing story here.

 

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