County Courthouses

[northcarolinajack]

Everyone must have a courthouse where you live, or a least near. In North Carolina we have 100 counties and 100 county courthouses, plus the state courthouse. I did not consider federal courthouses.
When I retired in mid 1999 I photographed my first North Carolina courthouse. I have forgotten the reason; perhaps it was just an interesting subject. Anyway, for a self interest project, I decided I would photography all 100 county courthouses. It took me most of the year 2000 and quite a few miles before I completed the project. Some are very beautiful, few are just building. If the county had a new courthouse, plus an old one, the photograph was made of the older one.
The one posted is Jackson County, in the North Carolina Mountains.

Project Equipment
Camera – Zone VI 4x5
Lens -- 65mm to 300mm – Nikon or Schneider
Film – Fujichrome Velvia or Provia

[Gem Singer]

There are nearly 250 county court houses in the state of Texas.

This one is the Denton County Courthouse in Denton, TX.

[Gem Singer]

This is the Wise County Courthouse.

Located in Decatur, TX.

Notice the resemblance to the Denton County Courthouse? (Denton and Decatur are in adjacent counties).

[cdholden]

I've considered this very project for myself, only in TN. I spend so many hours and miles on the road, it's hard to stop for photos when you're trying to get work done and get back home. Some courthouses are interesting, others not so much.

Gem, keep it up. Only 248 to go!

[Gem Singer]

This is the Ellis County Courthouse. Located in Waxahatchie, TX.

(I planned on photographing all of them. After doing ten, I gave up the idea).

[Mike Castles]

There are 254 counties in Texas, my parents did that project several years ago. Photographed each one, and some of the older ones no longer in service - some of those are gone now. It was a good project for when Dad retired and we all still enjoy looking at the photos, since Mom went through a rough time with colon cancer as they worked to complete them all. A lot of county clerks and judges gave them some good information on the county/courthouse as they visited when they could - plus they saw A LOT of Texas. Might have to consdier doing the same thing when I retire.

[Ron McElroy]

A retired Dallas fireman I've met did this a project few years back. He rode his motorcycle to all of them and its in all the photos as well.

[Gem Singer]

This is the Parker County Courthouse located in Weatherford, TX.

The high price of gasoline has put a crimp in my traveling distance.

All of the courthouses shown are within a fifty mile radius of my home.

[Robert Brazile]

Enjoyed stumbling across this thread, as I was born in Denton (seen that courthouse so many times) and attended a wedding in the old Jackson County courthouse (now a library) just last month. Weird coincidence.

County courthouses here in Massachusetts aren't what I'm used to from Texas, but there are some interesting old district court buildings, and the old Middlesex County buildings in Cambridge are pretty photogenic, have to try that some Sunday morning.

[Jim Graves]

The California Administrative Office of the Courts building in San Francisco (also the home of the California Supreme Court) has a B&W series of all the county Superior Courts throughout their hallways ... makes a great show.

California is a little saner than Texas ... we have 58 counties (29 of which are larger than Rhode Island.)