Bruin's Slave Jail

Built in 1819, this two-story brick building in Old Town Alexandria was purchased by  Joseph Bruin, who operated the place under the name Bruin and Hill, to imprison enslaved Africans and transport them to markets in the southern United States.

The tribulations of the Edmondson family, who were purchased by Bruin and Hill and enslaved in the building, served as an inspiration for abolitionist author Harriet Beecher Stowe when she wrote the revolutionary anti-slavery novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

The novel, released in 1852, was the second best-selling book during the 19th century, with only the Bible selling more copies.

A statue of siblings Mary and Emily Edmonson stands next to the building. They were sent to New Orleans to be sold, but were recalled by Bruin due to a yellow fever outbreak and his fears that their value as “fancy women” would be lost if they contracted the disease.

When they returned, the sisters were kept in Bruins private residence next to the jail and hired out for domestic work. While living there, they became acquainted with Bruin’s younger daughter, who advocated for their freedom. Their father, Paul Edmonson, with help from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s father, preacher Henry Ward Beecher, was able to raise $2,250 to secure their release.

Further revelations in “The Key To Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” written in 1854, cast a long shadow over Joseph Bruin’s dealings and earned him national notoriety. Bruin was captured at the outset of the Civil War while attempting to flee Alexandria, and imprisoned in the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C. The Slave Jail was confiscated by U.S. Marshals and used as the Fairfax County courthouse between 1862 and 1865.

The building now houses offices and is not open to the public, but can be viewed from the outside, along with the sculpture of the Edmondson sisters and a historical marker that provides details on their lives.