Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina

Oct 30, 2015 Fri0Confederate Statues

Laurie and I like riding our Gold Wing motorcycle. But it is easy to get into a rut and just ride the same roads. So to force ourselves to ride to places we would not normally visit we made a goal to visit and photograph all 100 North Carolina courthouses within 1 year.

As usual, we got a little behind. We started in July 2015 and finished 99 out of 100 by June 2018. The last courthouse was in our home county of Wake and it took us until Feb 2021 to get that final one. But we made it! This blog is about one of those visits.

Many NC courthouses were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The nomination form has some interesting facts about the various courthouse styles over the years.






Courthouse Information


Wikipedia says the following about the courthouse:

Caswell County Courthouse is a historic county courthouse located at Yanceyville, Caswell County, North Carolina. It was built between 1858 and 1861, and is a rectangular two-story, stuccoed brick building, five bays wide and seven deep. It sits on an elevated granite block foundation and features a two-level recessed entrance porch and octagonal cupola.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is located in the Yanceyville Historic District.






County Information


The North Carolina History Project lists the following information for this county:

Founded in 1777, after fragmenting the northern region of Orange County, Caswell County is named after Richard Caswell, a Continental Congress member and the first Governor of North Carolina after the Declaration of Independence. The Occaneechi and Siouan Indians were the original inhabitants of the area, but after western settlement, English and Germans began populating the region. Leasburg was established as the county seat in 1791, but in 1833, the seat was shifted to Yanceyville (formerly Caswell Courthouse), named in honor Bartlett Yancey. Milton is the county's only other incorporated community, but several unincorporated communities exist, including Casville, Leasburg, Pelham, Prospect Hill, Purley, Semora, Cherry Grove, and Blanch.

Caswell County was once a production pipeline for North Carolina politicians. The above-mentioned Bartlett Yancey was a prominent U.S. Congressman and state senator. Numerous politicians were either born in or represented Caswell County during the early-to-mid nineteenth century. Notable names include Archibald Debow Murphey, considered by many to be North Carolina's Father of Education. Others are Romulus Mitchell Sanders, Bedford Brown, Calvin Graves, Jacob Thompson, and John Kerr. In fact, the influence of these men, combined with their extensive tenures as state representatives and state senators, have led historians to assert that passage of legislation during the early nineteenth century was dependent in many ways on a Caswell County bloc.

Caswell County is also a major agricultural hub for the state. Soybeans, corn, wheat, oats, barley, hay, and alfalfa are staple products grown in the county. Beef cattle, sheep, swine, and chickens are the most common stock animals. However, Caswell County's economy has thrived for the last 150 years primarily because of tobacco. In 1840, a slave named Stephen, owned by Abisha and Elisha Slade, accidentally discovered the process of flue-curing for tobacco. Flue-curing enabled tobacco to have high levels of sugar and simultaneously medium to high levels of nicotine, thereby making the tobacco not only sweeter, but more addictive. Caswell County accumulated a great amount of wealth due to flue-curing, and today tobacco still remains the main crop of the region.

Although the number of natural attractions is fewer than in many other counties, it certainly possesses an abundance of historical and cultural sites. The White House, not to be confused with the President's residence, is an example of a nineteenth century home, as is the Pascal House. Brown's Store is a mid-nineteenth century convenient store. Houses of the many politicians, such as the Bartlett Yancey House, also attract tourists. The Union Tavern, where free black and successful furniture maker Thomas Day worked, is preserved to this day. The Caswell Council for Arts and History, Caswell County Historical Museum, and the Caswell County Historical Association represent the county's cultural institutions.






Our Experience


This is a very impressive courthouse. It is well maintained and with the late day autumn sunshine, it just looked neat. Laurie noticed a large nest on the side and insisted I take a photo of it. A couple of ladies handing out Halloween candy said they thought they were ravens. I don't have a clue but the nest was large, maybe a couple of feet wide.

Tonya, one of the ladies, tried to get us to take some candy. We declined, but they convinced a passing man to take some "for the children at home."

I liked the open space in front of the courthouse. There is a museum across the street I would like to return and visit. We were just running out of time this day. Laurie noticed a couple of local buildings (see photos below). One was a barber shop with a fun sign. The theater is for sale if you want a "fixer upper."

Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:06:13 PM EDT Altitude: 608 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:07:01 PM EDT Altitude: 608 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 2:58:06 PM EDT Altitude: 606 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 2:59:30 PM EDT Altitude: 606 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:00:54 PM EDT Altitude: 606 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:01:22 PM EDT Altitude: 606 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:02:27 PM EDT Altitude: 606 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:02:58 PM EDT Altitude: 606 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:03:08 PM EDT Altitude: 606 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:04:05 PM EDT Altitude: 608 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:09:08 PM EDT Altitude: 608 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:10:39 PM EDT Altitude: 608 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:14:35 PM EDT Altitude: 608 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Laurie
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:14:42 PM EDT Altitude: 608 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Laurie
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:15:04 PM EDT Altitude: 608 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:04:27 PM EDT Altitude: 608 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 3:04:47 PM EDT Altitude: 608 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 2:54:52 PM EDT Altitude: 606 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 2:55:36 PM EDT Altitude: 606 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 2:54:45 PM EDT Altitude: 606 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina
Oct 30, 2015 Fri 2:56:36 PM EDT Altitude: 606 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Caswell County Courthouse in Yanceyville, North Carolina



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