Graham County Courthouse in Robbinsville, North Carolina

Jul 10, 2015 Fri0

Laurie and I like riding our Gold Wing motorcycle. But it is easy to get into a rut and just ride the same roads. So to force ourselves to ride to places we would not normally visit we made a goal to visit and photograph all 100 North Carolina courthouses within 1 year.

As usual, we got a little behind. We started in July 2015 and finished 99 out of 100 by June 2018. The last courthouse was in our home county of Wake and it took us until Feb 2021 to get that final one. But we made it! This blog is about one of those visits.

Many NC courthouses were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The nomination form has some interesting facts about the various courthouse styles over the years.






Courthouse Information


Wikipedia says the following about the courthouse:

The Graham County Courthouse is located at 12 North Main Street in Robbinsville, the county seat of Graham County, North Carolina. The current courthouse is a Classical Revival structure designed by Barber and McMurry of Knoxville, Tennessee, and completed in 1942; it is the third courthouse to stand on the property. The T-shaped building is fashioned from stone reportedly gathered in the Mill Creek area about 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of Robbinsville. The building occupies a prominent location in the center of Robbinsville; it is one of three North Carolina courthouses built with funds from the Depression-era Works Progress Administration.

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.






County Information


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

Named for William A. Graham, Governor of North Carolina and a U.S. Senator, Graham County was formed in 1872 out of the eastern section of Cherokee County. Graham County's establishment is largely attributed to President Andrew Jackson's nationwide removal of Indians beginning in 1838. Once the Cherokee were removed away from their homes, Americans settled in their lands, but never in high concentrations. With a sparse population coupled with a rather small land area, Graham County only has three communities: Lake Santeetlah, Fontana Village, and Robbinsville, the county seat.

Graham County's economy has deep agricultural roots. For over a century, the county's farms provided chickens, corn, tobacco, and even Christmas trees for other North Carolinians and Americans. In the early twentieth century, small industrial manufacturers moved into the region and textile plants and cheese, furniture, and lumber factories dotted the valleys.

By the late twentieth century, a booming tourism industry replaced agriculture's importance. Tourists come from near and far to view the county's mountainous countryside. A popular natural attraction is Fontana Lake. A part of Nantahala National Forest is in the county. Man made projects also attract travelers: the Cherohala Skyway, a scenic byway that passes through mountain vistas, and the Appalachian Trail, a long, winding trail that runs throughout the range. Fontana Dam, the highest dam in the eastern United States, was constructed between 1942 and 1944. The various natural and man-made attractions not only lures tourists, but also reels in enraptures filmmakers. Portions of the movies The Fugitive and Nell were shot in Graham County.

A few notables hail from Graham County. In the field of sports, NASCAR driver Randy Orr and pool player Wade Crane are natives of Robbinsville. Popular musicians include professional southern gospel artists the Jody Brown Indian family and country music singer Ronnie Milsap. All were originally from Robbinsville. Junaluska, leader of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and widely considered a hero among the Cherokee people, is buried in Graham County.






Our Experience


There was not much going on in this downtown on a Friday. Things were moving slow.

Jul 10, 2015 Fri 11:48:43 AM EDT Altitude: 2079 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Graham County Courthouse in Robbinsville, North Carolina
Laurie
Jul 10, 2015 Fri 11:49:19 AM EDT Altitude: 2079 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Graham County Courthouse in Robbinsville, North Carolina
Jul 10, 2015 Fri 11:49:45 AM EDT Altitude: 2079 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Graham County Courthouse in Robbinsville, North Carolina
Jul 10, 2015 Fri 11:50:11 AM EDT Altitude: 2079 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Graham County Courthouse in Robbinsville, North Carolina
Jul 10, 2015 Fri 11:50:27 AM EDT Altitude: 2080 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Graham County Courthouse in Robbinsville, North Carolina
Jul 10, 2015 Fri 11:51:15 AM EDT Altitude: 2080 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Graham County Courthouse in Robbinsville, North Carolina
Jul 10, 2015 Fri 11:55:14 AM EDT Altitude: 2082 ft Camera: Nikon D5100Display on Google Map
Graham County Courthouse in Robbinsville, North Carolina
Laurie
Jul 10, 2015 Fri 11:56:51 AM EDT Altitude: 2082 ft Camera: Nikon D5100Display on Google Map
Graham County Courthouse in Robbinsville, North Carolina
Laurie



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Haywood County Courthouse in Waynesville, North Carolina




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