Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina

Oct 24, 2015 Sat0Confederate Statues

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.






County Information


I could not find much info about the courthouse except it was built in 1970. The following information about the county comes from the North Carolina History Project:

A western Piedmont county, Alexander County is named in honor of William Julius Alexander, and its county seat, Taylorsville, is named after Zachary Taylor, twelfth president of the United States, or John Louis Taylor, North Carolina's first Supreme Court Chief Justice. (Historians disagree). William J. Alexander was once Speaker of North Carolina's House of Commons.

In 1847, Alexander County was annexed from Iredell, Wilkes, and Caldwell counties by the North Carolina legislature. The same year, Taylorsville was established and the funds received for the seat's land helped construct Alexander County's first courthouse. Stony Point, Little River, Millerville, Hiddenite, and Bethlehem are other towns and communities within Alexander.

Important cultural events are held in Alexander County annually. The Apple Festival, Stony Point Day, the Vashti Fourth of July Parade, Mayfest, and the Taylorsville Lions Club Agricultural Fair compile a diverse selection of events and celebrations held in the county. In addition to these events, the Hiddenite Celebration of the Arts is an annual music event that incorporates many types of instruments and band performances.

A vital part of Alexander's economy and history rests in its diverse natural resources, particularly precious minerals. The largest emerald to ever be uncovered in North America was found in Hiddenite in 1969; it was named "Carolina." Numerous minerals such as sapphires, monazite, tourmaline, aquamarines, sillimanite, garnets, quartz, along with emeralds have all been mined at the important Hiddenite Gems Emerald Hollow Mine.

Another important industry in Alexander includes its wide array of agricultural products that are grown in the county. Ranked a top agricultural county in North Carolina, Alexander boasts as the tenth greatest producer of beef cattle, sixth in dairy, third in poultry products, and fifth in apples. In regards to apple production, in 1900, apples grown in Alexander ranked first at the Paris World's Fair. Even though most Alexander residents work in the service or manufacturing industries, farmland accounts for nearly two-thirds of all land in the county.






Our Experience


Not much to say here. The monuments had some poetic inscriptions.

Oct 24, 2015 Sat 9:37:49 AM EDT Altitude: 1259 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
Oct 24, 2015 Sat 9:34:48 AM EDT Altitude: 1259 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
Oct 24, 2015 Sat 9:36:13 AM EDT Altitude: 1259 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
Oct 24, 2015 Sat 9:36:19 AM EDT Altitude: 1259 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
Oct 24, 2015 Sat 9:36:43 AM EDT Altitude: 1259 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
Oct 24, 2015 Sat 9:37:09 AM EDT Altitude: 1259 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
Oct 24, 2015 Sat 9:38:10 AM EDT Altitude: 1259 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
Oct 24, 2015 Sat 9:38:53 AM EDT Altitude: 1259 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
Oct 24, 2015 Sat 9:39:00 AM EDT Altitude: 1259 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
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Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
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Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
Oct 24, 2015 Sat 9:40:42 AM EDT Altitude: 1259 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
Oct 24, 2015 Sat 9:41:14 AM EDT Altitude: 1259 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
Oct 24, 2015 Sat 9:41:30 AM EDT Altitude: 1259 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
Oct 24, 2015 Sat 9:43:53 AM EDT Altitude: 1259 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Alexander County Courthouse in Taylorsville, North Carolina
Laurie



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Catawba County Courthouse in Newton, North Carolina




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