The county's records, fortunately, were in a fire-safe room-sized vault, and saved. As a result of this fire, the Virginia General Assembly in 1975 passed the Virginia Records Act, which mandates microfilming and otherwise archiving records so that they may be stored at a second site, the Library of Virginia in Richmond, for safekeeping.
The county's courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Courthouse was rebuilt in the Greek Revival style, and this courthouse and the one before it are thought to follow plans initially created by Thomas Jefferson, though this is has not been proven to everyone's satisfaction.
The original log courthouse was built in 1772 before being replaced around 1848 by the brick courthouse that burned.
This is a monument to the Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. It was installed on the courthouse grounds in the early 1900s.
This is our cousin, Kathy, taking a picture of the painting of Norborne Berkley. Berkley was the Earl of Botetourt and a governor of Virginia from 1768 to 1770. The county is named after him.
This is the courtroom as seen from the balcony. Note that the jury is seated around the judge's bench, and thus the defendants must face the jury when they are in the stand, which is the space at the far lower right of the photo.
Circuit Court Clerk Tommy Moore brought out the special books that house important historic documents so that the relatives could take a look at signatures of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Andrew Lewis, and other patriots.
Aunt Marjean has a chat with the Circuit Court Clerk about various and sundry historic issues.
I love history! Thanks for taking us on the tour with you.
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