The Historic Courthouse

A few months ago my husband Cuyler and I decided to go check out a building on my historic trip list, Yes as dorky as it may sound I have one of those.

We decided to revisit a very beautiful small town called Blairsville. It is very simple with limited attractions but full of history. Completely surrounded by the Georgia mountains and full of old fashion southern hospitality. I was nine months pregnant with our daughter and we thought while Cuyler had sometime off, because I was going to be induced soon, and Blairsville isn't but a stones throw away from where we live why not go sight seeing.

For anyone who hasn't been there, in the center of the town square is the historic court house. It was built in 1899 and was designed by J.W. Golucke.

The courthouse was placed on the national register of historic places in 1980. They have had to do some repairs due to lack of care in the 1920's but the changes were minimal at best.

It stands beautifully in the middle of a small grassy lot built mainly of brick with a tall white clock and bell tower. On the lawn to the side of the building in a glass box casing is one of the original bells.

The building has two floors the first being the museum, as we walked in we were greeted by a kind older woman, beautiful hardwood floors and the glorious scent of cherry wood which I'm guessing is what the floors are made of. Hanging on the wall in front of us is a display of old farming equipment with black and white photos of fields, crops and farmers working them.

Folded flags, old advertisements and newspaper clippings were hanging in frames on the opposite wall along with a few metal signs right outside of the first room. The first room was rather small with an old school desk, a sewing mannequin wearing a simple flower patterned dress and glass casing filled with a lot of miscellaneous things; thimbles and old buttons, postage stamps, coins a pair of women's laced gloves, tea cups and plates etc. There were pictures of classes, families and the town itself.

The second room was a bit more intense for me mainly because for some weird reason when I am around older items I usually feel a lot of the emotion that was put into it by the person who owned it or used it before. I'm not sure if There is a name for that or not and I know it sounds far fetch but believe me it can happen.

Back to the second room, it was filled with multiple things to do with the war. Uniforms, bullets, guns and swords, letters, patches and I think there was a pair of boots under the glass though I won't swear to it.

As soon as I stepped in I wanted to walk right back out because the whole room was filled with such a heavy feelings of anger,sadness,fear as I walked around the room multiple images, sounds and scents began flooding me. I could smell the gun powder,sweat,rain, blood and dirt. I could hear the screams, shouted commands, and very faintly for a moment gun fire not long after that I felt a shooting pain in my chest and I decided that it would be best if I moved along.

I believe that possibly I was experiencing someone else's final moments. That or because there was so many artifacts in the room I was just over flooded with too many memories from certain things at once.

Either way, I was officially unnerved and I wanted out of there so I stepped into the hall and waited for Cuyler.

Not long after he came out we went to the second floor which was the old court room, they now use it for small gatherings where they sometimes let people play blue grass music and on the holidays set up an area to have pictures with Santa among other things. Though nothing was going on that day.

It was a rather large room, if I had to guess it could probably hold up to 70 maybe 100 people somewhat comfortably. There was still a judge's bench and a witness stand on both sides. Roped off of course, and the room was filled with pews. The walls lined with old windows with the original panes and pictures of the court room when it was still being used for cases.

As I walked around the room I noticed that something felt unsettling like I was being watched. I looked around realizing that Cuyler and I were still the only ones in the room, so I stuck close to him. As we looked at pictures of old I felt two firm aggressive hands on my hips and I froze a cold gust of air on the back of my neck sent chills to my core.

It was then that I heard a male voice whisper in my ear," Guilty, I was guilty and freed." I looked at Cuyler and asked if we could go it was then that the grip tightened for a minute but thankfully let go. He looked at me funny and said sure asking if I was ok, I nodded and started to walk toward the steps when I heard the same voice whisper "fools". I didn't bother to look back I just kept walking. What he was guilty of I don't know and don't want to know.

Even with all the strange encounters I really enjoyed our visit to the court house and when we pass through Blairsville every now and then I still can't help but gawk at the beautiful building, Even with all of its dark history.

There are still a few places I would like to go see in Blairsville and look forward to seeing what they have in store for us, if anything at all.

Thanks for reading this I hope You enjoyed it.