Scott County’s Historic Places
There are six structures in Scott County that appear on the National Register of Historic Places. They are the old First National Bank of Huntsville, the Scott County Jail, the Louis E. Bryant house in Oneida, Barton Chapel in Robbins, the Black Creek Fire Lookout Tower and the O&W Bridge.
A seventh structure, the Leatherwood Ford Bridge, has been deemed eligible for listing on the register, but never has been.
Barton Chapel
Barton Chapel was built in 1926, and is located at the corner of U.S. Highway 27 and School House Road in Robbins. It was built by the First Pilgrim Congregational Church, which was renamed Barton Chapel Congregational Church.
The land for the church was donated by Jasper Hughett, the first postmaster at Hughett (Slick Rock) and later a prominent merchant in Robbins. It was built using brick from the nearby Robbins Brick Yard, and was furnished with a podium and altar chairs from First Congregational Church of Oak Park, Ill., which was pastored by William Eleazar Barton (1861-1930), the first pastor of the Congregational church at Robbins.
The church was named for Barton in honor of his service.
Scott County Jail
The old Scott County Jail was built in 1904. It was one of three buildings in Huntsville that were built from native sandstone quarried nearby. The other two were the Scott County Courthouse and the First National Bank of Huntsville. All three were completed between 1904 and 1906.
The jail was used until 2008, when it was replaced by the Scott County Justice Center. Today, the jail is operated as a tourist attraction by History, Highways & Haunts LLC.
Bryant home
The Louis E. Bryant home was built in 1905 in the Bear Creek section of Oneida. It is the only private residence in Scott County to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Bryant, a mining engineer from Chicago, built his home as he prepared to begin mining operations in the area, which he named Roberta in honor of his mother.
Black Creek Tower
The Black Creek Fire Lookout Tower was constructed in 1951 and used as a fire observation tower until 1967. It is located on Grassy Knob, above Black Creek in Robbins. It is one of only three fire lookout towers that remain in Scott County, and is the only one of the three listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Huntsville Bank
The Huntsville Bank was built between 1906 and 1909. Like the courthouse and jail that stand adjacent to it, the bank was built of locally-quarried sandstone. It was the home of the Huntsville Banking Co. from 1909 to 1917, and First National Bank of Huntsville from 1917 to 1932. For the next 40 years, the bank building housed the offices of welfare and public health before being purchased by First National Bank of Oneida in 1973.
Leatherwood Ford Bridge
The Leatherwood Ford Bridge was constructed in 1938 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” and is a single-lane, low-water, wooden bridge over the Big South Fork River at Leatherwood Ford. The bridge was used by vehicular traffic until 1982, and continued to be used by foot traffic until the mid 2010s, when it was damaged by flooding and closed. The bridge is in a state of serious disrepair due to river flooding, with no immediate plans for its repair.
While the Leatherwood Ford Bridge was determined in 1981 to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, it never has been.
O&W Bridge
The Oneida & Western Railroad Bridge over the Big South Fork River was constructed in 1915 as part of the construction of the O&W Railroad. The bridge is a steel, whipple through-truss design that was originally built in the 1880s before being dismantled by the Nashville Bridge Company and moved to the Big South Fork in 1915. The bridge was used by train traffic until the 1950s, when operations ceased on the O&W Railroad. It has been used by vehicular traffic, horse traffic and foot traffic since that time.
In 2023, the bridge was slated for replacement using federal bridge funding. Following an outpouring of concern from citizens, however, Scott County Commission canceled a resolution seeking funding for the bridge and pledged that the bridge will remain in place. A subcommittee formed by County Commission has applied for National Register of Historic Places designation for the bridge, and the bridge was added to the registry in December 2025.