BARNWELL, S.C. (AP) - There’s a lot of history surrounding the Barnwell County Courthouse - and the several other Barnwell courthouses that came before it.
The two-story white structure, with its Greek-inspired columns, black iron railings and iconic sundial, is situated on Barnwell’s picturesque downtown circle. The building has one courtroom that accommodates criminal, civil, family and probate courts.
Some records in the courthouse date back to the 1780s, when Barnwell County was known as Winton County. In those days, court was held in people’s homes and plantations.
“They just didn’t have anywhere else to put them,” said Jerry Morris, chairman of the board for the Barnwell County Museum.
“Court was originally held in Boiling Springs in plantation houses before the Winton County courthouse was built. It’s convoluted.”
According to newspaper archives, the first courthouse had been built by August 1789 in what was known as Boiling Springs, then the county seat was moved to Barnwell Village.
The first courthouse built in Barnwell around 1800 was later torn down.
“The way it was designed originally, it had an odd entrance and nobody liked it,” Morris said. “It was not built of quality materials.”
A new Barnwell courthouse was built and occupied by 1848. In February 1865, Union General Judson Kilpatrick and his cavalry came through Barnwell and burned the entire village, including the courthouse.
“If it was any government building or type of industry that would aid the Confederates, they burned them,” Morris said. “Pretty much everything around the circle now. We had some other prominent people in the area. Barnwell was one of the few larger towns at the time. It was more of a focus. (Kilpatrick) didn’t have anything against Barnwell himself.”
Immediately after the destruction of the courthouse, money was available for a jail, but court was held in Barnwell’s Presbyterian Church until 1869, when the county seat was moved to Blackville by act of the Reconstruction legislature, according to newspaper reports. Court was held in Blackville until 1873, when the county seat was returned to Barnwell by a legislative referendum, and a final action was taken in May 1875 by public vote.
The contract to build the courthouse and jail was awarded in 1878. The jail was completed in October 1878, and the courthouse in February 1879, with the final cost amounting to about $16,700.
Outside Barnwell’s courthouse is a unique vertical sundial, which was erected in 1828 by J.D. Allen, a state senator from Barnwell and the son of the former clerk of court, according to documents provided by Barnwell County Clerk of Court Rhonda McElveen.
“It is the only remaining one of its kind in the country, and keeps almost perfect standard time, although standard time was not set up until 1884,” an archived news report reads. In the years since the courthouse was constructed, fire-proof repositories for court records have been added on, an annex to house probate court and other offices was also added, and the originally-brick building was plastered over.
An archived photo shows “Barnwell, S.C.” spelled out on the courthouse’s roof. According to Morris, that was likely around the World War II era, when Barnwell’s airport was used as a training base.
The courthouse has seen some well-known cases tried, including several death penalty cases and even proceedings for the James Brown estate. In 1998, Barnwell’s Circle Theatre even performed the court drama “Inherit the Wind” in the Barnwell courtroom instead of the theater.
McElveen said it gets difficult juggling several different courts through one courtroom, and they occasionally have court in Bamberg or Aiken to accommodate the schedules. Currently, a new courthouse doesn’t seem to be on the horizon.
“We’d love one because I’d like to have two courtrooms,” McElveen said. “But I don’t know how long it’s gonna be. You’ve got to have the money first.”
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Information from: Aiken Standard, https://www.aikenstandard.com
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