Goochland's Courthouse Square

Goochland's Courthouse Square. .

The new courthouse was this day received by William Miller, G. Woodson Payne, and myself as Commissioners for the County. An elegant and excellent building erected by Dabney Cosby and Valentine Parrish…and the court sat in it, myself presiding, for the first time. , , Col. William Bolling, Goochland County Commissioner, entry in his diary, August 20, 1827

"Goochland County has the best preserved courthouse square in Virginia and what is arguably the most architecturally perfect Jeffersonian courthouse in existence today." , , Gibson Worsham, Architectural Historian, Presentation to Goochland County Historical Society, 2015

, You are standing very near the original bounds of Goochland's public square which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. The brick wall was built in 1844, not only to define the grounds, but also to keep out grazing animals. In early Virginia, the courthouse square included buildings required for the public administration of justice, including the courthouse, clerk's office and jail. While monthly court days were for the purpose of transacting legal business, including trials and punishments, they also were festive days, bringing together citizens from across the county. They gathered around the square and local taverns to discuss business and politics, gossip and participate in various forms of entertainment, ranging from horse races to horse trading.

[Captions:] , The plan, drawn in 1929 and pictured at right, displays the historic layout of the public square. It shows a deep parking lot in front of the square flanked by two buildings. The old tavern, pictured below, is the one in the southwest corner. The angled portion of the brick wall at the southeast corner accommodated the Office Road which appeared in a plat dated 1822; it is still in use today.

Left: This historic photograph, circa 1940, illustrates how the wall and the parking lot appeared at the time. It shows the brick stile over the wall and the public well protected by an open shelter.

Right: On this historic triumphant return to Virginia in the fall of 1824, the Marquis de Lafayette, hero of the American Revolution, passed through Goochland on his way to Monticello to visit Thomas Jefferson. After being welcomed by an assemblage of citizens on the courthouse square, he is said to have spent the night at Benjamin Anderson's tavern, pictured at right. In 1923 the tavern was the home of Major James A. Graves. For a period of two years, it housed the newly formed Bank of Goochland of which Major Graves was the second president. The building was eventually taken down when the state highway was widened. (Photo courtesy of The Valentine, Richmond, VA).