Botetourt County Court House
Item
- Title
- Botetourt County Court House
- Date
- 1953-08-27/1975-06-14
- Description
- Image 1 - Color photograph of the Botetourt County Courthouse.
- Image 2 - A color photograph of a commemorative plate with a black and white photo and the words "Botetourt County Court House Fincastle, Virginia"
-
Image 3 - A newspaper article about the fire that burned down the Fincastle Courthouse in 1970. It reads,
"200-Year-Old Records Survive Blaze
Holt Inspects Undamaged 1770 Deed Book
FINCASTLE - The only bright spot on the smokey morning after the Botetourt County courthouse burned down was the safe condition of the 200-year-old records.
Historical people for miles around were distressed by the loss of the building but they were relieved to hear that papers dating from the earliest settlements on the frontier were intact.
They were safe behind the foot-thick concrete walls of the vault in the clerk of courts office.
But nobody knew they were unharmed until the fiery building cooled enough for Robert D. Stoner, longtime clerk, and George Holt, his successor, to open the vault door after 8 a.m. Tuesday.
In the Tuesday afternoon board of supervisors meeting, Hold was authorized to get paper experts from the W. J. Barrow Research Laboratory in Richmond to assess any damage in the clerk's office.
Holt said there was 'some little moisture and smoke' and he was concerned about sulphur fumes. As soon as electric power can be restored, he said, dehumidifiers will be placed in the vault.
Here were such treasures as a 1780 land grant signed by Thomas Jefferson, then governor of Virginia; a colonial grant signed by Gov. Dunmore in 1772; minutes of a meeting of field officers in the American Revolution in 1782; maps of prison bounds in Fincastle in the late 1700s, and the marriage bond of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition and Judith Hancock, who lived at nearby Santillane.
The wills of such frontier notables as Gen. Andrew Lewis, Col. William Fleming, Gen. James Beckinridge and Col. Henry Bowyer are on file here.
Deeds describe property from Israel Christian's original conveyance of land for Fincastle and other points in that vast area west to the Mississippi which was encompassed by early Botetourt.
Here at Fincastle was the seat of a county where men living on tributaries of the Ohio River were excused from jury duty because they lived too far from the courthouse.
Records cover a vast territory, once in Botetourt, now in the states of Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and part of Wisconsin.
Here in the burned courthouse are copies of land grants from King George III to Thomas Jefferson for Natural Bridge in a tract on Cedar Creek and to George Washington for 7,276 acres of land in what is now Kentucky.
Hundreds of visitors have seen some of these documents on a walking tour of the county seat.
The courthouse was a focal point of the county's bicentennial observance throughout the past year.
It began with the traditional New Year's Eve bell-ringing of Fincastle churches, keyed to the courthouse bell now buried under rubble. During the county's 200th birthday celebration, square dances, an art show, a beard contest and other special events were held on the courthouse square.
Loss of the building was 'sad news, but it's so much better than it could have bene,' said James W. Moody, executive director of Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission, in Richmond. He referred to the 'extremely valuable' records.
The fire, biggest in many years in this country, reminded some oldtimers of stories they've heard about Fincastle's disastrous fire of 1870- just 100 years ago.
That blaze didn't harm the new courthouse but it left many a chimney standing alone as it swept through the village." -
Image 4 - A newspaper article from the Fincastle Herald, dated August 27, 1953, which reads,
"Old Court House Bell Comes Home
Through the kindness of Mr. B. M. Phelp of Roanoke, and his hobby of tracing historic data, the old bell which hung in the old court house here which made way for the present building, was returned here this week. The present Court House, remodeled since, was authorized in 1846, and completed in 1848.
The bell was located on the property of Mrs Ethel Giveus in Craig County. Indications are that it was taken to Craig, then a part of Botetourt, by workmen who razed the old building. The bell probably dates back to 1790 when the first permanent court house was built.
The bell is considerably smaller than the present bell which has been ringing here or [sic] more than a century, which is probably the reason it was replaced." - Images 5-10 - Program from the Botetourt County Court House Dedication, dated June 14, 1975.
- Creator
-
Image 1 - Lee, Mike (photographer)
Image 2 - Fincastle Herald
Image 3 - Kegley, George and Masters, Betty (photographer)
Image 4 - Fincastle Herald
Image 5-10 - Botetourt County Court House - Contributor
- Images 5-10 - Stoner, Robert Douthat
- Format
- image/jpeg
- Subject
- Town of Fincastle
- Fincastle
- Type
- Image; PhysicalObject; Text
- Publisher
- Fincastle Herald; Botetourt County
- Coverage
- Fincastle, Botetourt County
- Rights
- http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
- Provenance
- Image 2 - Provided to Botetourt County Libraries by Carol Pugh.
- Item sets
- Community
Position: 1538 (5 views)