About
The 1858 Old Davidson County Courthouse on the square in Uptown Lexington is one of North Carolina's finest antebellum public buildings and home to the free Davidson County Historical Museum. Visitors can tour exhibits spanning 12,000 years of county history and the restored second-floor courtroom.
Completed in 1858, the stuccoed temple-form courthouse has a portico of fluted Corinthian columns and an octagonal clock tower. Its interior was burned in 1865 and rebuilt around 1867, and it was remodeled in 1918. Most county offices moved to a new courthouse in 1959. The building was listed on the National Register on June 24, 1971, is a contributing property in the Uptown Lexington Historic District, and was rededicated in 2014 after a 12-month exterior restoration.
The museum, a branch of the Davidson County Public Library, holds more than 17,000 artifacts and offers rotating exhibits, a research library and tours including a Black History Tour and Uptown Lexington wayfinding. A state highway marker (K-44) stands at Main and Center streets.
Details
- Address
- 2 S Main St, Lexington, NC 27292, Lexington, NC
- Town
- Lexington
- Completed
- 1858
- Style
- Classical Revival
- Interior burned / rebuilt
- 1865 / about 1867
- NRHP listed
- June 24, 1971 (ref. 71000576)
- Restoration
- Exterior restoration completed 2014
- Admission
- Free
- State marker
- K-44
- Visiting
- Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; free admission (per museum website).
Sources
- davidsoncountyhistoricalmuseum.com
- davidsoncountyhistoricalmuseum.com
- en.wikipedia.org
- en.wikipedia.org
- dncr.nc.gov
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