Monticello - Florida

Monticello is a city north east of Tallahassee in Jefferson County, Florida.  It has a population of  just over 2.000.  It is a quaint town which has the impressive Jefferson County Court Courthouse.  It was built in 1909 .

Across the road from the Courthouse is The Meeting Oak which is around 250 years old and was where the Confederate Soldiers met for mustering in and inspection and assignment to units of the Florida Brigade.

We took the opportunity to tour the Jefferson County Jail 1906 - 1971.  This the Men's Prison.

This is the Women's Prison.

The following photos are from the Men's Prison.  The process for imprisonment involved the Booking Room.  It was also the room that noisy inmates were placed.  It is a very small room with only a chair, very thick walls.

Upstairs was were the male prisoners were housed.

Prisoners were permitted to leave their cells to exercise if they were behaving themselves.  Outside of the cell block is this enclosed area.

Around the walls of the above exercise are prisoners took the opportunity to write their thoughts on the wall.  Below are a couple of examples of what is written on the wall.

                                    

The area were murderers were housed in cells which were encased in a steel cage.

During the time of this jail the Sherif and his/her family lived onsite.  Below is the living room.

The kitchen.

The bathroom.

Across the road from  the Jail House is a tree covered with Spanish Moss.

The town also  has an Opera House. The Perkins Opera House Also known as the Monticello Opera House is an historic Theatre. In its hay day Perkins used this building for the merchandizing of the day.  It included a general store and sewing machine shop, hardware and farm implement supply store.
The Opera House was aded to the U.S. National Register in 1972.  It is believed to be haunted by john Perkins who built this Opera House in 1890.

After our historic adventures it was time for a bite to eat.  We choose the REV Cafe.

Inside the American Flag has pride of place.   This is made of wood.

A tapestry hangs in the cafe with items of food shown.

Ross enjoyed pastrami hash brown with eggs and home-fries.  Beverley opted for grits with egg, cranberries, pecans, goat cheese and bacon.   Over the many years we have been traveling and then living in the USA we have never eaten grits.  When offered we always said no thank you.  So today was bite the bullet day for Beverley.  Overall she said it was rather tasty.

Cheers,

Beverley and Ross