Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina

Oct 11, 2015 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 Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina was designed by Wheeler, Runge & Dickey in Classical Revival and Beaux Arts style. It was built in 1903.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The listing included three contributing buildings on 3.1 acres (1.3 ha). It is located in the Downtown Wilkesboro Historic District.

The Wilkes Heritage Museum is now housed in the historic courthouse. Opened in 2005, the museum's exhibits include early settlement, military history, industry, agriculture, medicine, communication, education, pottery, entertainment and transportation. The museum also maintains and operates tours of the Old Wilkes County Jail (c. 1859) and the Robert Cleveland Log House (c. 1779), as well as the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame. The museum also owns the Thomas B. Finley Law Office.






County Information


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

Established in 1777 from Surry County, Wilkes County, situated in the mountains of North Carolina, has contributed greatly to the history and culture of the state. The Tutelo and Cherokee originally lived in the area, and the first Europeans to settle in the land were German and Scotch-Irish immigrants. Wilkesboro, established in 1847, is the county seat, and both the seat and county take its name from John Wilkes, a Parliament leader who supported American independence. Austin, Ronda, North Wilkesboro, Moravian Falls, Ferguson, Mulberry, Roaring River, Boomer, Millers Creek, and Wilbar are other townships within the large Wilkes County.

An interesting piece of Wilkes County history is the Tom Dula legend; it was popularized in a Kingston Trio ballad called Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley. After the Civil War, Private Tom Dula moved back to Elkville, now known as Ferguson, and planned to elope with Laura Foster. However, Laura disappeared. Her body was later found, and Tom Dula was charged with murder, and hanged for the crime. Thomas C. Land wrote a poem about the popular tragedy, and in 1958 the Kingston Trio revised it and popularized the story.

Another vital part of Wilkes County history is its connection to auto racing and NASCAR. Once described as the "moonshine capital of America" in the mid 1900s, North Wilkesboro was in a prime location for not only the illegal production of distilled liquor but also for its transportation. Bootleggers drove their modified cars, full of liquor and fast engines, to delivery spots all across the state, and when bootleggers were not delivering whiskey, they would race their cars on the weekends for bragging rights and extra cash. Soon people would gather to watch bootleggers race their cars and a dirt, oval-sized track was built in North Wilkesboro. Thousands of spectators would gather and watch races year after year in Wilkes County, and soon other tracks were built across Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In 1947 the National Association for Stock Auto Racing or NASCAR was born, and many historians consider Wilkes County the birthplace of NASCAR. Some of its greatest stars such as Junior Johnson, Curtis Turner, Ned Jarrett, Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt raced on North Wilkesboro Super Speedway.






Our Experience


I would like to visit this courthouse again. We visited on a Sunday morning so nothing was open. The Wilkesboro area was an assembly area for pioneers planning to travel through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky in the 1700's. My Williams ancestors came from NC through the Gap in 1779. There is a lot of history in this area.

There were hiking trails leading from the courthouse and a log house in the area called the Robert Cleaveland Log House. I would like to return and check out this house.

Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:50:01 AM EDT Altitude: 1051 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:50:11 AM EDT Altitude: 1051 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:50:51 AM EDT Altitude: 1051 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:51:18 AM EDT Altitude: 1038 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Laurie
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:52:34 AM EDT Altitude: 1038 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:53:03 AM EDT Altitude: 1038 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:54:48 AM EDT Altitude: 1038 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:53:23 AM EDT Altitude: 1038 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:53:45 AM EDT Altitude: 1038 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:53:54 AM EDT Altitude: 1038 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:54:19 AM EDT Altitude: 1038 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:54:38 AM EDT Altitude: 1038 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Bobby
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:56:50 AM EDT Altitude: 1038 ft Camera: X100SDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Laurie
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:57:03 AM EDT Altitude: 1038 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Bobby
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:53:25 AM EDT Altitude: 1038 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina

We also had a minor breakdown. The bike was not feeling right and my feet seemed to hit the pavement too quick when we stopped. I stopped at a gas station to check rear tire pressure and we had none. The previous owner of our Goldwing installed a car tire on the bike. He said it was the same tire used on the Mini Cooper and it was a "run flat" tire.

I put Ruby up on the center stand and it did not take long to find the nail in the tread. I pulled out my tire repair kit and we were soon back on the road. I knew something was off but the bike still handled ok. I am now very impressed with the "run flat" tire and know that a rear flat will not leave us stranded on a road trip.

Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:18:02 AM EDT Altitude: 1142 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Bobby
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:18:15 AM EDT Altitude: 1142 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Bobby
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:18:24 AM EDT Altitude: 1142 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Bobby
Oct 11, 2015 Sun 10:19:10 AM EDT Altitude: 1142 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Wilkes County Courthouse in Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Bobby



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Alleghany County Courthouse in Sparta, North Carolina




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