Cabarrus County Courthouse in Concord, North Carolina

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Courthouse Information

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Wikipedia says the following about the courthouse:

The historic Cabarrus County Courthouse, on Union St., S., in Concord, North Carolina, was completed in 1876, replacing one that was destroyed by fire just the previous year. It was designed by architect G.S.H. Appleget. It includes Second Empire, Italianate, Classical Revival, and other architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The courthouse is now the home of the Cabarrus County Veterans Museum. It is located in the South Union Street Courthouse and Commercial Historic District.

Cabarrus County has constructed four courthouses since the creation of the county in 1792. The records show that the first court held for the county of Cabarrus was at the house of Robert Russell located on the Salisbury Road on the third Monday of January, 1793. In 1795 commissioners were named to build the first courthouse; it was very small, only thirty feet square, poorly lit and ventilated and inadequately heated. It was built at the center of the square which was the intersection of Union and Corban Streets; this structure was used for thirty years until a new courthouse was constructed in 1826.

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County Information

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

Cabarrus County earned wide acclaim in the late-eighteenth century when the first gold rush in the entire nation occurred at Reed Gold Mine. In 1799, Conrad Reed, the son of a German settler, found a nearly 20-pound nugget at the Little Meadow Creek. Just four years later in 1803, the first gold mine in the U.S., Reed Gold Mine, had been constructed, and it sparked the gold rush in North Carolina. Some of the largest nuggets of all southern mines came from the Reed mine, and it remained the leading mine of the gold rush until California took over at the beginning of the 1850s.

Textiles became the main industry of Cabarrus County after the gold rush in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Coleman Manufacturing Company near the county seat of Concord, Cannon Mills in Kannapolis, and mills in nearby Mecklenburg became the leading textile mills in the North Carolina in the late nineteenth century. The Coleman Company, the first textile mill operated by an African American, produced textiles from 1896 until 1904. By the end of the 1900s, North Carolina textiles, along with those in Cabarrus, started a downward trend due to cheaper textile manufacturers in cheap labor nations. In 2003, Pillowtex, a large company that had bought out Cannon Mills, released almost 5,000 employees; among these were 1,500 residents in Cabarrus County.

Despite the economic recession of the early 2000s, Cabarrus remains one of the fasting growing areas in North Carolina. Located near Mecklenburg County, a growing metropolitan area, Cabarrus County serves as a "bedroom community" for many who work in the banking center of Charlotte. In addition to the suburban traits of Cabarrus County, Canon Mills transformed into a biotechnology research facility, and several auto racing businesses and NASCAR teams were established in Cabarrus. One reason for attracting race companies is that Kannapolis was the home city of accomplished racecar driver, Dale Earnhardt; Earnhardt's racing corporation, Dale Earnhardt Incorported (DEI), is located in Kannapolis.

Annexed by the North Carolina Assembly in 1792, the southern Piedmont county was named in honor of Stephen Cabarrus. Stephen Caburrus was the Speaker of the House of Commons in North Carolina during the early 1790s. The Catawba were the first to inhabit the land, and they thrived off of what John Lawson detailed as a "delicious country." The pine forests along with the buffalo, turkey, and pigeon game allowed the Catawba a safe community in modern-day Caburrus County.

Scotch-Irish and German settlers drove away the Native Americans in the 1750s and 1760s. The northern immigrants used the Great Wagon Road to travel and move into Cabarrus County. The first families in the area constructed farms where they raised cows, horses, and hogs along with the necessity crops of corn, barley, and indigo. The county, Concord, was formed in 1798. In his Encyclopedia of North Carolina, William S. Powell wrote that the name Concord "celebrates the settlement of long-term disputes between ethnic groups and agreement over the town as the site for the courthouse." Other townships outside of Concord, include Harrisburg, Stanfield, Mount Pleasant, Georgeville, and Kannapolis.

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Our Experience

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I really enjoyed this courthouse. The architecture was interesting and I liked the paint colors on the trim. There was a huge beautiful tree on the corner that I just could not really get in a photo. If only it could tell stories of the things it has seen!

The downtown area was fun also with lots of people walking around. It definitely caters to the tourist crowd but not in an irritating way. And how could I pass up an ice cold wine slushie in the Cabo winery? We did a quick tasting and bought a couple bottles of wine for our left over San Remo pasta we planned to eat later in the camper.

I did not get his name but I was told later the guy in the photo below is Danny, one of the proprietors. He told us how he makes the wine in the back of the building. If you happen to be in downtown Concord, check him out. His website is cabowine.com. Especially try the Over Yonder port. I guarantee you will like it.

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Google Map Track Log

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Cumberland County Courthouse in Fayetteville, North Carolina		Mecklenburg County Courthouse in Charlotte, North Carolina

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