Sweeney Prizery

The Sweeney Prizery is a structure within the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. It was registered in the National Park Service's database of Official Structures on June 26, 1989.

History

This building, constructed around the year 1790, is the oldest structure in the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. The Sweeney prizery was built primarily as a residence for Alexander Sweeney and the cellar used as a prizery for his business. By 1865, it was owned by Joel Flood. Prizeries were structures in which hogsheads of tobacco were stored after the tobacco was packed, a process known as prizing.

The prizery is considered significant both due to its representation of the characteristics of a tobacco prizery and for its association with the surrender at Appomattox Court House.

Physical description

The Sweeney prizery (tobacco packing house) is a single story structure with a loft and full cellar. It was built to serve as both a prizery and as a residence. It is about thirty six feet wide by sixteen feet deep. The prizery is built into a bank. The building has a foundation of rough-hewn sandstone that makes up the cellar walls. There is board sheathing on the inside of the exterior weatherboards.

There are only three openings from the exterior to the cellar, all of which are on the southeast side. Two are the remains of doors and the other is a casement opening. There are two external chimneys, one at each gable end. While the ceiling supports have been whitewashed, the ceilings themselves are not plastered. Openings for two doors are present on the first floor of the northwest side of the structure.

Pictures of the Sweeney prizery as it looked in 1959.