I bring very sad news from Chatham County, where I was for lunch this afternoon. The Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsboro, built in 1881, caught fire last night and burned through the night. You may recall that I blogged about Pittsboro in February when I spoke about Charles Manly's 1838 literary address.
Apparently the fire started in the bell tower, which is at right. (The two pictures here are from last summer, pre-fire, obviously.)
Fans of monuments will be happy to learn that the Confederate statue out front of the courthouse is still standing.
Below I have another view of the front of the of courthouse. Tragically, not only was the building lost — but it looks like a number of ancient documents were, as well. I wouldn't have gotten to it this summer, I'm certain, but Pittsboro was on my list of places to visit to see about their antebellum records–particularly their probate records. I'm very sad to have to cross off Chatham County as a comparison point for Greene County's antebellum probate records.
I went back a few days later to take another look around.
Posted below are two photographs of the post-fire building.
And here's one of some of the remnants of the building — looks like a bench survived.
