I bring very sad news from Chatham County, where I was for lunch this afternoon. The Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsboro, built in 1881, caught fire last night and burned through the night. You may recall that I blogged about Pittsboro in February when I spoke about Charles Manly's 1838 literary address.
Apparently the fire started in the bell tower, which is at right. (The two pictures here are from last summer, pre-fire, obviously.)
Fans of monuments will be happy to learn that the Confederate statue out front of the courthouse is still standing.
Below I have another view of the front of the of courthouse. Tragically, not only was the building lost -- but it looks like a number of ancient documents were, as well. I wouldn't have gotten to it this summer, I'm certain, but Pittsboro was on my list of places to visit to see about their antebellum records--particularly their probate records. I'm very sad to have to cross off Chatham County as a comparison point for Greene County's antebellum probate records.
I went back a few days later to take another look around.
Posted below are two photographs of the post-fire building.
And here's one of some of the remnants of the building -- looks like a bench survived.
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