{"nrhp_refnum":"79001663","name":"Brunswick County Courthouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Davis and Moore Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Southport","county":"Brunswick County","state":"NC","lat":33.91905511700003,"lon":-78.01776870699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-05-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Brunswick County Courthouse is a two-story stuccoed brick building on a shaded corner lot in Southport, North Carolina. It was built around 1844 in Smithville, the community later renamed Southport.","why_significant":"The nomination describes it as one of only seventeen antebellum courthouses still standing in North Carolina and the only surviving antebellum courthouse in the southeastern quadrant of the state. It is described as still one of the most impressive buildings in Southport and as retaining architectural integrity despite later alterations.","narrative":"Built around 1844 in Smithville, later renamed Southport in 1889, the Brunswick County Courthouse is a plain two-story stuccoed brick building on a shaded corner lot. Its rectangular plan has a gable roof, a front parapet, a one-story porch sheltering double doors beneath a fanlight, and a mousetooth cornice. A simple belfry crowned with a hemispherical dome sits on the ridge. The building has been altered by fires in 1922 and 1958, interior remodelings, and wings added in the 1960s, yet its historical and architectural integrity is still regarded as sound. It is one of only seventeen antebellum courthouses still standing in North Carolina and the only one surviving in the southeastern quadrant of the state. When the county seat moved to Supply in 1978, the building was left empty and then became the Southport Town Hall. Mature live oaks surround the building, which remains one of the town's most prominent structures.","period_of_significance":"c. 1844","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"The county seat was moved from the courthouse in 1978, and the building serves as the Town Hall for Southport.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:42.235784-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/76/7172/47717276/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/79001663.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001663/899e88d6ec-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001663/899e88d6ec-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brunswick_County_Courthouse_Southport,_NC_Jun_10.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog (talk)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brunswick_County_Courthouse_Southport,_NC_Jun_10.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"80002801","name":"Southport Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/southport-historic-district-80002801/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717276","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Brunswick_County_Courthouse_(North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4979496"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/brunswick-county/brunswick-county-courthouse-79001663/"}