Northampton County Courthouse Square is a historic

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

complex located at

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

Northampton County, North Carolina Northampton County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 17,471. Its county seat is Jackson, North Carolina, Jackson. Northampto ...

. The courthouse was built in 1858, and is a tall one-story, three bay by three bay,

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style temple-form brick building. It sits on a raised basement and features an imposing prostyle tetrastyle portico with great fluted

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic classical order, orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric order, Doric and the Corinthian order, Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan order, Tuscan (a plainer Doric) ...

columns. The building was remodeled and a two-story rear addition built in 1939 by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

. The clerk's and register's office was built in 1831, and is a one-story brick building with stepped parapet gable ends and a plaster cornice. A later clerk's office was built in 1900 between the 1831 building and the courthouse. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1977. It was built on land previously developed by Jeptha Atherton in 1762, who allowed the use of a building for county court meetings. The Atherton plantation had a large stables and specialized in horse breeding. There was also a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

, a tavern, and a store.

References

Works Progress Administration in North Carolina County courthouses in North Carolina Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Greek Revival architecture in North Carolina Government buildings completed in 1858 Buildings and structures in Northampton County, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Northampton County, North Carolina {{NorthamptonCountyNC-NRHP-stub