Charlotte Court House Historic District

Charlotte Court House, the seat of Charlotte County in Virginia's southern Piedmont, was created by the colonial legislature in 1759 and named county seat in 1764. No eighteenth-century buildings survive, but the historic district preserves most of the town's streets and lots as mapped in 1817. Its focus is Courthouse Square, where the 1823 brick temple-form courthouse, built by John Percival from plans by Thomas Jefferson, stands among an 1840 clerk's office, a 1900 clerk's office, a Confederate monument and a 1936 jail. Nearby are a ca. 1820 Federal-style tavern, early brick and frame stores, a Masonic lodge, Greek Revival and Methodist churches, a library created from a Federal-style house, and two large farms, Wynyard and Villeview. Colonial Revival schools and 1930s government buildings add later layers. The district counts 53 contributing resources and ten noncontributing buildings, and it is regarded as one of Virginia's best preserved courthouse towns.