October Highway Marker
Visit a replica of the 1750 Courthouse—which hosts the County Museum—during the VA250 Memorial Brick Walkway dedication ceremony on October 10th! Or, during CHSV’s 45th Anniversary Open house, happening on October 25th!
October’s DHR Highway Marker is Marker S-7, commemorating the courthouse that Chesterfield County erected in 1850. In July of 1749, the county hired John Booker to “build a courthouse, prison and pillory” for the sum of 500 pounds, “to be delivered up complete by the first day of October 1750.” Booker modeled the courthouse after the Henrico County courthouse at Varina. The 1750 courthouse building was used for a mostly continuous period of 167 years until it was demolished and replaced in 1917. Between 1976 and 1977, a replica which hosts the county museum was constructed, maintained by CHSV. Some infamous trials that took place at the original 1750 Courthouse include the trials of the seven Baptist preachers, Thomas Ritchie, Jr., John S. Wormley, and Henry Beattie. Marker S-7 is near the Chesterfield County Police Department facing Iron Bridge Road.
Text from Marker S-7:
This area, known originally as "Cold Water Run," is the site of the first Chesterfield County courthouse, erected in 1750. In 1917 it was demolished and replaced by a larger Georgian Revival brick building that served the county until the 1960s. The most famous trial here was that of seven Baptist preachers for breach of ecclesiastical law in 1773. In 1780-81, Governor Thomas Jefferson designated the courthouse village as a training post and encampment of all reinforcements for the Continental armies from the southern states.
Sources/Read more about the 1750 Courthouse:
https://www.chesterfield.gov/facilities/facility/details/Chesterfield-County-Museum-86
Image Credits: