Fayette County was created in 1821 from land ceded from the Creek Indian Nation. We are an original county, meaning we were created from land ceded by the Creek Indian Nation. We are the 49th county to be created in Georgia. Four other counties were created at the same time, Henry, Dooly, Houston and Monroe counties.

The land was given out under a lottery system and it was 1822 before the first citizens arrived. We feel that our county was named for Marquis deLaFayette, and that perhaps some of our early settlers had fought under him during the American Revolutionary War. The closest he got to this county, however, was in 1825 when he traveled through the middle part of Georgia, from Savannah to Macon to Columbus and then on to New Orleans.

Besides decreeing that the new counties had to create a county seat, the state also said that the county seat was to be divided up into lots, 60 feet by 120 feet, that these lots were to be sold and the money used to build a courthouse. The lots were sold at $12 to $15 each, and the money had to be paid by the end of the year.

It is felt that a small, wooden courthouse was built for the grand sum of $78.00 that lasted until 1825, when the one was built that you can still visit. The "old" courthouse is the oldest courthouse building in the State of Georgia.

Let's spend the rest of this article talking about its trials and tribulations.

It was begun for the sum of about $2,000 and completed several years later for another $8,000.00. In the minutes of the Justices of Inferior Court, (now called the county commissioners), we find that on April 26, 1825, the specific plans for the courthouse state: "the foundation shall be laid with smooth stone one foot under the surface of the earth two feet and one half wide and raised cinshes (sic) above the surface the size of which shall be 40 feet square, the body of the house shall be of smooth well burnt brick of the best clay the county will afford,built upon said foundation and raised a sufficient height two brick and one half thick". The bricks were fired about a block south of the courthouse, about where the American Legion Post House is now.

To continue "to allow room enough for a foundation foot story below and a ten foot story above stairs leaving three doors below, four feet wide and ten feet high with the arch one in the center of the South wall and one in the center of the east and west walls arched above. And nine windows below eight feet high and three wide or as near that size as possible to make the glass fit. Three on the back of the Judges seat on north side, then one on each side of the doors. Twelve windows above stairs six feet high by two and a half feet wide. ...The roof shall be covered with good heart pine shingles the roof having the ordinary pitch of such buildings with rafters resting on each side of the house. ...the windows shall be painted green.

"The outside of the wall shall be painted with lime, the wall of the under story shall be plaistered (sic), white washed or made white. The lower floor shall be laid with tile. The upper floor with good pine planks of the common thickness tongue and groove and dressed."

Next time we shall see what some of the expenses were during the nineteenth century and what happened to the 'good pine planks of common thickness' by the twentieth century.

Carolyn Cary is Fayette County's official historian and editor of "The History of Fayette County," published by the Fayette County Historical Society.

Back to the Top of the PageBack to the Weekend Home Page