I was visiting an antique store on the Waynesboro town square when the store owner saw me picking up a county brochure.
"You're not from around here," he said with a smile.
I told him that I like taking pictures of courthouses.
He said, "You've come to the right place...except ours is ugly!"
I pointed to the county tourism brochure and said, "The word they used was 'different'."
"Well, that's the kind way of saying it."
From him, I learned the old courthouse had burned down due to an arsonist. Plans were drawn for the replacement courthouse to be built at a shopping center, hence the shopping center look to the building. Then, I guess some people went sentimental and wanted the new courthouse in the center of the square, but it was too late to change the design. Therefore, as the store owner put it, it was a double mistake.
I remember coming across this courthouse because I used to drive from town to town to see what each town offered. I was pretty amused by the look of this courthouse. I've never heard the story, but am glad the old one wasn't leveled just for the sake of putting something new there.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I just happened to stumble onto your blog and enjoy your pictures. I just moved back home to Cali from living in Mid TN for 5 years and find that I miss it almost on a daily basis. Maybe your blog can alleviate that!
You've probably seen it, but Columbia's courthouse (along with the townsquare) was always one of my favorites. Especially since it was still in use as a courthouse. One of the locals told me it would soon be used for law offices.
Anyway, I'm enjoying your blog, looking forward to seeing more!
I suppose I don't hate this one as much as a lot of people do. Many of the more modern courthouses are large concrete or bricks blocks, and they can get rather boring when you see a few of them in a row. This one is at least different.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.