An 1840 courthouse that held the wounded and the imprisoned — soldiers from both sides left their names scratched into the walls.
20 North Loudoun Street, Winchester, VA 22601
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
General admission $3–$5; see website for current pricing
Access
Wheelchair OK
Indoor museum with two levels; courthouse built 1840
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1840 · Civil War Hospital · Confederate Prisoner-of-War Facility · Third Battle of Winchester · Preserved Soldier Graffiti
The Frederick County Court House went up in 1840 on North Loudoun Street in Winchester, a city that changed hands between Union and Confederate control more than seventy times during the Civil War. The building's central location made it an immediate military asset when troops occupied the city.
Following the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19, 1864 — a Union victory that swept Lieutenant General Jubal Early's Confederate forces from the Shenandoah Valley — the courthouse transitioned from a Union hospital treating the battle's casualties to a holding facility for Confederate prisoners of war. The courtroom and adjacent spaces received the wounded first, then captives.
What makes the building unusual is what the men left behind. Soldiers from both armies, facing illness, captivity, and uncertainty about the war's outcome, scratched their names, unit designations, and drawings into the plaster walls. The museum has preserved these inscriptions intact across two floors. Visitors can read the names and look at the rough drawings of men who passed through the building more than 160 years ago.
The museum today exhibits Civil War-era weapons, personal effects, and artifacts illustrating Winchester's position as the most contested city in the Eastern Theater. The restored courtroom remains as its centerpiece.
Sources
The paranormal activity reported at the Old Court House Civil War Museum clusters around two areas: the courtyard where Confederate prisoners were held and the restored courtroom above.
Passersby have described gray, indistinct forms in the courtyard, visible from the street. Inside, voices have been reported at all volumes — a murmur in a quiet gallery can give way to what witnesses describe as shouting in the empty courtroom. Some visitors report hearing what sounds like cries from the wounded.
A more concrete account involves a renovation crew. According to the Southern Spirit Guide, three workers abandoned a job at the museum mid-project after scaffolding moved on its own during a lunch break. No further explanation was provided, and the men did not return.
Whether these accounts trace to the building's years as a hospital or its months housing captured prisoners, the courthouse held a documented concentration of suffering. Several hundred men passed through it in the fall of 1864.
Explore the restored 1840 courtroom and two levels of Civil War artifacts, including the walls where soldiers from both armies scratched their names and drew pictures during the building's years as hospital and prisoner-of-war holding facility.
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