More than a decade ago, I read a news article that featured a man who had visited all the county courthouses in the country, some 3,000 or more. After visiting a few near us in South Georgia, Mayre and I decided that this could be a doable process, at least in a small way.
We liked the idea of traveling through Georgia, using the state roads, staying off the Interstate, and spending time in the smaller cities and towns here about.
We began small, just visiting the counties near us, but then, as the bug bit us, we ventured out and covered the state's 156 county seats, each with its own courthouse, some new, but a lot of them older with a lot of history, and folks happy to reveal it to us.
So why not pop the question to Carolyn?
No, not the "BIG" one, I got that one down already, but a simple one, "want to have a little adventure today?"
After all, we had the afternoon after church free, and there were old buildings and people ready to impart facts in places we had not known about.
In the 5+ years we had been married, we had visited a bunch of cities and towns while getting acquainted with extended family, getting me in touch with Carolyn's bunch, and her finding out about mine.
Tennessee is a medium size state, and we had already been several of these around here. But there are 95 courthouses, sitting in 95 county seats, ranging from small towns to pretty good sized cities.
We have been in fourteen as this Sunday began, so, only 81 more to go.
We scooted out of the metro Chattanooga area on 153, and just south of Dayton, we turned west to go through Jones Gap, down into beautiful Sequatchie County on my kind of roads; four -lane and limited traffic. South on 28 for a couple of miles, we came to Dunlap.
One thing about courthouses on a Sunday. There is plenty of parking. Another thing; no one to answer questions. Maybe a standoff.
I took a few shots of the exterior, read the inscriptions on a couple of monuments, and enjoyed the relative quiet and ease of the small town Sunday afternoon. Wanted to find some information on the building, but could not find a cornerstone. One possible clue was the plaque on the front near the front door which gave the names of a building committee and dated 1911. Google confirmed the date.
One fact that I like to establish if there is someone who can; Since the country was formed in 1857, was there a precursor to this courthouse. Was the older courthouse(s) destroyed in some way, or was it still standing?
After walking around the property (a true courthouse square), we started back for town central. A sign with the inscription reading Historic Dunlap Coke Ovens beckoned us drive west, which we did. At the end of a dead end road, we found a park with a museum, and exhibits from the coke ovens era.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a company was chartered and began mining coal on the higher land above the park. Then over the next 20 years or so, 228 beehive ovens were constructed to turn the coal into coke to supply the needs of the foundries located in Chattanooga, just down the road. The company then running the operation ceased operations in 1927 as the Depression took effect.
The tour guide at the museum, Mr. Hugh, was a treasure trove of information about the park, the industry it contained, and answered our questions about the era and the business of coke. Carolyn can give you the how, when and why of this coke process and it's fascinating story.
There are stories and there are people who lived, worked, and worshipped in the town. When you find a small county seat, you can be sure that the stories are there, too.
Courthouses are the pretense for getting out, and you can never know in advance what the real reason will turn out to be.
Adventures await!
Eighty more to go.
One at a time.
