NPS Collection The banjo has become the quintessential American musical instrument. It combines the traditions of the simple stringed gourd from African slaves with the ballads and tunes of the Scotch-Irish and English who settled Virginia. Appomattox County was the birthplace of Joel Sweeney, the man who popularized the 5-string banjo. Group 1: Photographs of Joel Sweeney, Richard Sweeney, Sam Sweeney, and the Sweeney Banjo Group 2: Banjos that are attributed to Joel Sweeney in the Appomattox Court House collection Group 3: 4 string slave banjar (reproduction) Group 4: Traveling trunk believed to have belonged to Joel Sweeney |
Last updated: February 18, 2018