2. Chatham County -- Pittsboro -- 3/11/06

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_County%2C_NC

UPDATE (3/25/2010 Fire): We will miss you, Chatham County Courthouse! It's difficult to say goodbye to a community symbol, but I look forward to seeing you when you return!

After a 2 month hiatus from Courthouse Chasing, I busted out my digital camera to go get a new one...Chatham County! I've driven past this courthouse a billion times going from Fayetteville to Chapel Hill, and so it was an easy one to find...right in the middle of the traffic circle.

Some have asked how I find the courthouses. It's pretty easy...just drive the middle of the town and drive around. Unless you have a new fangled courthouse like many do, and you usually just drive just outside the old part of town, and there it is. Reason? When a courthouse gets too small, counties look for some more land, which usually happens to be just outside the historic downtown. A lot of this growth happened as the Baby Boomers were growing up in the 1960s, so just look for a nasty looking building made of concrete with skinny windows, and you've probably found it. Honestly, did those EVER look attractive?

Lucky for Chatham County, they still use their nice one in the middle of the traffic circle.

I went hiking with 3 friends, Walter, Erika and Matt on March 11. Matt just got married to my friend I've grown up with, Adrienne, this past weekend. Congrats! Anyway, we were meeting Walter downtown at the General Store Cafe (neat place), so I had Matt get a quick pic. We went on an 8mile hike along the Haw River from Highway 64 to 15-501 and I introduced them all to Geocaching. Yeehaw! That's a great hike...you should really do it. There are rapids and kayakers and lots of rocks to play on. I definitely fell in like a moron. You have to cross creeks walking along trees. If you don't like that, then it's probably not for you.

Notice the Confederate statue in front of the courthouse. Many of them face north (as does this one and the one at UNC) to welcome the Yankees back to the South and show no hard feelings. These statues weren't typically built right after the Civil War...because the Southerners hated the stupid Carpetbagging Yanks. They were typically built around the 1910s as the Confeds were starting to kick the bucket and as a way to foster Southern Pride. Of course, totally disregarding the whole race thing...the early 20th century wasn't known for its positive race relations. Now, these statues and Confederate flags cause controversy. When I was in Connecticut visiting the cemetery where my grandfather is buried, there's a Yankee statue there facing South. Isn't that nice? Yup, they do it too, up there, but I bet there's less controversy.