THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Believed
to be the earliest extant picture of the 1899 Union County Courthouse,
the
edifice still stands on the square in Blairsville, Georgia. The
red
bricks were molded in the area. Architects named Golucke and
Stewart
designed the Romanesque Revival style building and M. B. McCinty
received the
bid to construct the building for $12,000, which was raised in one year
by
heavy increases in citizens' taxes.
The
photograph was shot from the north view looking south. The old
Christopher Hotel is shown on the right in the southwest
corner of
the square, and a store in the southeast corner to the left of the
courthouse
became Butt's Drug store later. (Courtesy Union County Historical
Society)
What we call “the Old Court
House,” now the home of the Union
County Historical and Genealogical Society and the
Begin with the old courthouse
itself. The modified Romanesque Revival
style architecture stands out even today in its restored state as
dignified and
picturesque. The clock tower catches the
eye first, pictured against the blue mountain sky, its arched windows
on four
sides once revealing the old bell that called attention to special
meetings.
When that courthouse building was
erected in 1899, these citizens served on the
They even considered a new site,
rather than in the middle of the town square, on which to build the new
building. After all, the older
courthouse which had stood in the same spot, burned.
It might be reasonable to find another
location. They proposed buying lots
diagonally to the courthouse square for $800, but that did not meet the
public’s approval.
Mr. Stephen Major of Coosa
District was
generous and offered free land for the courthouse location if the
citizens
would but accept it. But again the offer
of land, though with no cost attached, was defeated.
So the commissioners decided to levy taxes to
build a courthouse at the cost of $12,000.
What a low price that seems to us in this twenty-first century. But then, the tax burden was heavy and many
citizens had to sacrifice needed farm animals and other goods in order
to keep
their land and pay the accelerated taxes.
To say the least, it wasn’t easy, building that grand edifice.
But the glorious old courthouse was
built and it has stood, with modifications, for all these years since
1899. The center of court was moved to
its new location in the new courthouse northwest of the square and the
Historical
Society undertook major restoration of the old courthouse.
It was successfully placed on the National
Register of Historic Places on
Now back to the year 1934 and that “in
memory” visual trip around the town square and the old courthouse: Entering from the south, on the Gainesville
Highway (recall that the Neal Gap Highway (now 129/19) was opened in
1925), a
dwelling was on the right, and on the left a garage and another
dwelling—this
latter one once being the home of Judge Tom S. Candler.
Proceeding around the square in 1934,
visitors to the town would see a general store and a hotel building,
with the
jail a short distance behind the hotel.
Next would be another dwelling, and on the corner, a general
store. Next was a small caf� or
lunchroom, a garage
with a service station attached, and on the corner of the road leading
to Young
Harris, a drug store. Beyond that
street, continuing around the square, another general store building,
with an
office building behind it commanded that space.
I must mention that the
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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