"The Sweeneys are indeed a wonder!!"

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