The Four Courthouses of Botetourt County
By Emily Gordon Honts

When several Botetourt citizens were asked to name the most significant and/or historical building in the county, all said "the Courthouse." Though it is not the oldest building, it does contain a collection of documents that date to the beginning of the county in 1770 and some records even earlier. 

On June 14, 1975, the fourth courthouse in Botetourt County was dedicated in Fincastle.  The program contained a history of the fourth courthouses by Robert Douthat Stoner. We have combined that information with excerpts from several books listed at the end of the article.

"On the 11th day of April 1770, the Magistrates of Botetourt County ordered (Court Order Book 1, p44) that....the surveyor of this County do lay off two and an half acres of land or use of the county as such place he shall be directed to by Robert Breckinridge, Israel Christian, John Bowyer and William Fleming and that from the place where the aforesaid justices shall direct the Court House to be Built, he do lay off ten acres of land for the prison bonds. The Court doth appoint Is. Christian & Stephen Trigg to agree with a workman to build a log cabin twenty-four feet long and twenty wide for a Court House with a clapboard roof and with two small sheds one at each end for jury rooms..... The first plat of the Town of Fincastle, filed at April Court, 1778, and recorded in Deed Book 2, page 347, shows the Court House facing south, the east end and south side abutting on Roanoke and Main Streets, respectively....This was the usual plan for frontier Court Houses in Virginia."

The witness chair and the bell used in the first courthouse are on display in the Botetourt County Historical Museum in Fincastle. Records in the Clerk's files from 1770 remain intact and contain lots of fascinating history, including the order that a woman be dunked in the pond three times for being loud of mouth

The second court house was erected around 1818-1820 and sat nearer the center of the same lot....The plans for this building are said to have been made by Thomas Jefferson and our historians debate this belief even today as written records are missing. A few records of materials used were found and stated that the columns of the building were made of walnut logs, which cost $7.50 each; the ceiling of the portico of poplar boards; the floors were made of stone; and the pipes and gutters were of copper and tin.

 As early as 1839, a committee was  appointed to ascertain whether a new (third) courthouse should be built, or the old one improved. Commissioners were appointed on June 9, 1840 to repair the courthouse rather than replace. However, on May 12,  1845 records show that a committee was appointed to contract for the building of a new courthouse and the proper authorities were directed to lay a levy to cover the cost of its construction. The General Assembly was petitioned to hold sessions at a substitute place and the courts used the "Town Hall" during the period of construction.

Completed late in 1847, the courtroom occupied the center of the building with the clerk's office on the east side and the office of thetreasurer on the west side. The ceiling of the courtroom extended to the roof and was heated by a fireplace.

The basement contained a hodgepodge of records, which later suffered water damage in the 1970 fire and were removed to the State Library in Richmond, where they remain to this day. However, many of the older documents survived the fire because the third courthouse had a fireproof vault that had been added in 1894.

December 15, 1970 at 2:10 A.M., the alarm was sounded that the court house was on fire. The Board of Supervisors announced that the courthouse would have to be completely rebuilt due to the collapse of the fire damaged walls and appointed a committee. They continued to meet many, many times for the next two years, deciding on an architect, number and size of additional rooms, etc. Construction did not begin until August 1972. The Circuit Court met in the District Court building (formerly the Western Hotel) in Fincastle during the five years of discussion and construction. On Saturday, June 14, 1975, a Dedication Ceremony was held in front of the completed fourth courthouse, with a large crowd gathering as Gov. Mills E. Godwin, Jr. gave his Message of Dedication. The public was invited to an Open House from 2-9 p.m.

Twenty-five years later, this building continues to serve the public for the Circuit Court, County Treasurer, Commissioner of Revenue and Clerk of Court. It also contains the administrative offices. The Clerk's Office receives hundreds of visitors from near and far, searching for records of their families who lived here in the 18th and 19th centuries.

(Excerpts taken from : The Botetourt County Court House Dedication Ceremony Program; A Seed-Bed of the Republic by Robert Douthat Stoner; The Town of Fincastle, Virginia by Frances J. Niederer; Historic Fincastle 1772, published by Historic Fincastle Inc.; Around Town, A Pictorial Review of Old Fincastle, Virginia by HFI; sketches by Anthony Simmons Kessler; photos by the Fincastle Herald and Emily Honts.)