Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina

Jul 17, 2016 Sun0

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 Henderson County Courthouse, also known as the Historic Henderson County Courthouse and the Old Henderson County Courthouse, is an historic 3-story brick gold-domed Classical Revival style courthouse building located at One Historic Courthouse Square, corner of 1st and Main streets in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

It is Henderson County's second courthouse and is adjacent to site of the 1840s courthouse which was razed upon its completion. Famed architect Frank Pierce Milburn was asked in 1903 to design the new courthouse, but the county commissioners rejected his design and instead hired Englishman Richard Sharp Smith, who was the resident architect of the Biltmore Estate after the death of Richard Morris Hunt in 1895. Construction by local builder W. F. Edwards began in 1904 and was completed in July, 1905.

The old courthouse was closed for renovations after the completion of a new courthouse at 200 North Grove Street in 1995. The restored 1905 courthouse currently houses the Henderson County Heritage Museum and some government offices.

On May 10, 1979, the Historic Henderson County Courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[1] It is located in the Main Street Historic District.






County Information


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

Originally part of the Cherokee Nation, Henderson County was established in 1838. Americans started settling the area after the 1777 and 1785 treaties with the tribe. During the Revolutionary War and in the formative years of the United States, people received land grants and moved to the area.

In 1838, the county was formed out of Buncombe County. Within weeks of the formation, residents disagreed concerning the location of the county seat and courthouse. The county seat was to be named Hendersonville, but commissioners quarreled over an exact location for the county's governmental business. One such site was Horse Shoe, a location on a bend in the French Broad River.

The debate was so intense that two parties formed: the River Party and the Road Party. The River Party was for Horse Shoe. The Road Party attempted to purchase or force the sale of land in the Horse Shoe location, in an effort to render the location unsuitable for a government center and thereby make their preferred site more attractive. Eventually the state legislature ordered a popular-vote election to determine the county seat. The Road Party prevailed and the town Hendersonville was planned.

The shape and size of Henderson County has changed a few times during the antebellum era. Part of Rutherford was annexed in 1844, and a revised boundary between Buncombe and Henderson was agreed to in 1851. In 1855, the county's size decreased as what would be known as Polk County split away from Henderson. Six years later, in 1861, it shrunk one more time-the time because a part of the county became Transylvania County. A continuing dispute between Henderson and Polk counties ended in 1903.

Henderson County is named for Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, Judge Leonard Henderson who died in 1833, five years before the county was created. Henderson County was created from Old Buncombe County and Rutherford County. Hendersonville received its original charter in the 1840's with a population of several hundred people.

The county's namesake is Leonard Henderson, an eastern North Carolina resident, who served as Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (1829-1833) and operated a law school from which many esteemed lawyers graduated.






Our Experience


Another nice, vibrant downtown. Laurie really liked the bears. Also here was the first monument to county citizens that fought in the Union army during the Civil War.

Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:21:30 PM EDT Altitude: 2137 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:22:33 PM EDT Altitude: 2140 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:23:05 PM EDT Altitude: 2178 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:23:19 PM EDT Altitude: 2140 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:23:41 PM EDT Altitude: 2140 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:23:41 PM EDT Altitude: 2131 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:23:46 PM EDT Altitude: 2126 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:23:53 PM EDT Altitude: 2140 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:24:42 PM EDT Altitude: 2134 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:24:59 PM EDT Altitude: 2140 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:25:15 PM EDT Altitude: 2140 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:25:47 PM EDT Altitude: 2140 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:26:12 PM EDT Altitude: 2142 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:26:27 PM EDT Altitude: 2142 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:26:47 PM EDT Altitude: 2142 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:27:10 PM EDT Altitude: 2142 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:27:43 PM EDT Altitude: 2142 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:27:54 PM EDT Altitude: 2142 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
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Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:29:39 PM EDT Altitude: 2144 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina
Jul 17, 2016 Sun 5:30:03 PM EDT Altitude: 2144 ft Camera: X100TDisplay on Google Map
Henderson County Courthouse in Hendersonville, North Carolina



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