Rockingham County Courthouse in Wentworth, North Carolina

Jun 18, 2016 Sat0

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 Rockingham County Courthouse is a historic courthouse located at Wentworth, Rockingham County, North Carolina. It was designed by Frank P. Milburn and built in 1907-1908. It is a Classical Revival style red brick building that consists of a three-story hipped roofed main block flanked by two-story flat roofed wings. It features a low and broad polygonal cupola atop the tile roof. The 1907 courthouse now serves as the county historical museum and archives.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The building houses the Museum and Archives of Rockingham County.






County Information


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

Formed out of Guilford County in 1785, Rockingham County was initially inhabited by the Cheraw Indians and later by the English, Germans, and Scotch-Irish. Its current population is approximately 92,000. Although not the county's largest town, Wentworth serves as the county seat.

Rockingham County has several important historic and natural sites. The Piedmont county boasts the first North Carolina theater with the capability to show sound movies: Rockingham Theatre. It is also home to the Penn House, a 12,500-square-foot dwelling. Its namesake, Charles Penn, was the Vice-President of American Tobacco and contributed greatly to the development of the "Lucky Strikes" cigarette brand. The architectural history dates back to the Revolutionary War, too. The Troublesome Creek Ironworks, for instance, was the grounds for Nathaniel Greene's troops in preparation for the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, and President George Washington later visited the ironworks to have breakfast with its founders.

Major towns in Rockingham County include Wentworth, the county seat, and Reidsville, Eden, Mayodan, and Madison. Eden is the largest municipality, and it and Reidsville combine for approximately one-third of the county's population. The county is bordered by the state of Virginia, to its north, and in the south, east, and west, by Caswell, Guilford, and Stokes counties.

The county was named after a British Prime Minister, Charles Watson-Wentworth, the Marquis de Rockingham. Interestingly, he was the Prime Minister during the Stamp Act Crisis in 1765.






Our Experience


The building across the street from the courthouse is the old jail. The courthouse is now the Museum and Archives of Rockingham County.

Laurie went inside to check out the museum and soon we were being given a "behind the scenes" tour of the museum by Fletcher Waynick, the Director of Operations. They have some very nice exhibits with plans to add even more. The photo where Laurie is pointing to the floor is supposed to be the center of the county.

If you are in the area, check out the museum.

Jun 18, 2016 Sat 2:16:24 PM EDT Altitude: 761 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Rockingham County Courthouse in Wentworth, North Carolina
Jun 18, 2016 Sat 2:17:44 PM EDT Altitude: 761 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Rockingham County Courthouse in Wentworth, North Carolina
Jun 18, 2016 Sat 2:20:27 PM EDT Altitude: 761 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Rockingham County Courthouse in Wentworth, North Carolina
Jun 18, 2016 Sat 2:22:16 PM EDT Altitude: 761 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Rockingham County Courthouse in Wentworth, North Carolina
Jun 18, 2016 Sat 2:30:02 PM EDT Altitude: 761 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Rockingham County Courthouse in Wentworth, North Carolina
Jun 18, 2016 Sat 2:30:09 PM EDT Altitude: 761 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Rockingham County Courthouse in Wentworth, North Carolina
Jun 18, 2016 Sat 2:32:08 PM EDT Altitude: 761 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Rockingham County Courthouse in Wentworth, North Carolina
Laurie
Jun 18, 2016 Sat 2:36:35 PM EDT Altitude: 761 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Rockingham County Courthouse in Wentworth, North Carolina
Jun 18, 2016 Sat 2:36:45 PM EDT Altitude: 761 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Rockingham County Courthouse in Wentworth, North Carolina



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Onslow County Courthouse in Jacksonville, North Carolina




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