A Happy Error

   The events of yesterday, with the fire in Hancock County at the old courthouse, caused me to put some effort in planning another trip to photograph others that I had not gotten to as yet. That exercise led me to realize that Hancock County was not on my new list of ones to cover, and, looking back at my database, the knowledge came that I had erred. I did have pictures of the courthouse and some other shots besides. 

   I am happy, really happy, to be able to share what I found, but, more than that, I had not missed getting that great old building in my file. I know there are lots of pictures in a lot of files, but they were not mine, and I wanted the pleasure of the find, and I wanted to have the personal enjoyment of having spent some time in that place.

   One of the interesting things to me about that post yesterday, and the scenes that it entailed, were some subconscious memories that I must have stored away back when I was there, but did not know that I was talking about this particular courthouse.

   For example I wrote:

   "We have seen them from outside small towns, their clock towers hovering over a cluster of buildings, some of which may have seen much better days. We have sat on front porches and inside on wooden benches. We have seen people coming and going, transacting business with the county in the same way as their parents and grandparents had done over the years. "

   And here is what I took pictures of in Sparta that day:

   Another example from my blog yesterday:

   "We have looked into old courtrooms and sat on those old chairs and pews, wondering about the many things that had gone on in that room over the years that court had been held there. We wondered about what those pieces of furniture could tell us if they could. We thought of, and speculated about, the stories of men, women, boys and girls whose very lives were bound up in the events that took place inside those old buildings."

   When you have traveled around the state and photographed 116 courthouses, you are hard pressed to picture each one and remember the shots you were impressed to take. It is amazing to me that, when I wrote those thoughts in that blog, I had actually done those acts and had those thoughts in that very building. I knew they were general thoughts that had passed through my mind several times in several places, but, until I found them in my file, I did not know it was in this place, and that I had pictures to go along with them.

   I am still sad that this grand old structure burned, and I know the folks who lived and had business in that courthouse are still sad, but I am happy that my time and memories from there are intact.

   The County was in the process of renovating that building, even fixing the clock so that it had hands and show the correct time on all four sides, and I do not know what they will do now with that shell of a structure, but here is what it looked like last September.

   Now to go get the other 43 that I need for completion.