central site. Thus Charlottesville was not a town of natural growth, but a political creation. It was formed by Act of Assembly, November 5th, 1761, to take effect January 1st, 1762. The name was bestowed in honor of Princess Charlotte, bride of George III.

The Court House Square was owned by the County, and adjoined the town on the North. A court house was erected promptly, but for some years town growth was slow, and as late as 1779 the village was said to contain only about a dozen houses. In 1835 it consisted of “about 200 handsome and comfortable dwellings, generally of brick, 4 houses of worship, 3 large hotels, 1 tavern, 2 book stores, 2 druggist stores, and about 20 mercantile establishments.”

The court house and its environs now constitute Old Charlottesville, and some account of the locality will be found in the ensuing pages.

ALBEMARLE COUNTY COURT HOUSE

The first Charlottesville Court House, built in 1762, was of wood, and reproduced that of Henrico County; the cost 375 pounds, ten shillings. It stood near the site of the Confederate statue and faced down Court—now Fifth—Street.

In that small structure both Jefferson and Monroe, as fledgling lawyers, practiced that profession. Both were youthful magistrates—although public life early broke this tie for both of them. There are no records of Mr. Jefferson’s sitting on the bench, although he did take depositions. Mr. Monroe sat regularly for six months in 1799, just previous to becoming Governor.

TARLETON AND JACK JOUETT.

As the Revolutionary War drew to its end the little building knew a brief notoriety. Before the threat of Cornwallis, Governor Jefferson and the Legislature refugeed, May 24, 1781, to re-convene in Charlottesville. The Legislature met in the Court House, the overflow occupying the Swan Tavern across the street. Cornwallis dispatched in pursuit his “hunting leopard,” Col. Banastre Tarleton, with a troup of 180 cavalry and 70 mounted infantry.

These reached the village on the morning of June 4th, to find that a warning had preceded them. The members had left town for Staunton: they were pursued and seven captured. The Jeffersons—the family by carriage, Mr. Jefferson on horseback—refugeed to Enniscorthy, the Coles plantation in Southern Albemarle.

The warning was brought by John Jouett, captain of militia, and a native of Charlottesville, his father being the owner of Swan Tavern. Chancing to be in Cuckoo Tavern in Louisa County as the legion swept by on the main road, he suspected their destination and rode swiftly by a shorter route, covering the forty-odd miles in time to arrive several hours before the enemy. This was the famous “Jack Jouett’s Ride,” which in dash, and political importance, surpassed that of New England’s Paul Revere.

In Charlottesville the British troops destroyed military stores amounting to 1000 new muskets, 400 barrels of powder, several hogsheads of tobacco, and a quantity of soldiers’ clothing. A more serious loss was the burning on the court house green of the County records, which covered the foundation of the County. As the uniform of the legion was white, faced with green, and that of the infantry red, the village must have presented a dramatic appearance during these hours.

Upon the 5th, Tarleton with his prisoners, withdrew towards Tidewater, his movements being hastened by rains which flooded the streams, and by the gathering of local militia. Jouett’s gallant action received State recognition. A resolution of the General Assembly, December 14, 1786, reads: Colonel Meriwether directed, “to procure an elegant sword for Capt. John Jouett on the best terms he can for the Contingent Warrents.”

PRESENT COURT HOUSE BUILDING

The main portion of the present court house was built by order of court, 1803. A committee of three produced the plan. (Mr. Jefferson was not one of these, but is said to have approved the design.) We do not know the style of the original portico; the present entrance and T-front are post-Civil War. The grounds held the usual whipping post, stocks, and pillory, and as late as 1857 the whipping post was restored.

The court house long served as the town’s public building, and the denominations used it in rotation. Writing about this in 1822, Mr. Jefferson says:

“In our Richmond there is much fanaticism, but chiefly among the women. In our village of Charlottesville there is a good degree of religion, with but a small spice of fanaticism. We have four sects, but without either a church or a meeting house. The court house is the common temple, one Sunday in the month to each. Here Episcopal and Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist, meet together, join in hymning their maker, listen with attention to each others’ preachers, and all mix in society in perfect harmony.”

Mr. Jefferson was a frequent worshipper, riding down from Monticello and bringing a light cane which opened into a seat—his own invention. It was not unusual to see on this green a president and two ex-presidents in friendly talk with neighbors. Mr. Madison, who lived some twenty-odd miles off in Orange County, was a close friend of the Albemarle two: they were called “the great trio,” as in close harmony they governed the United States for some twenty-four years. Mr. Madison was a member of the University Board, and, oddly enough, president of the Albemarle Agriculture Society.

An interesting old document, originally deposited in the court house was the will of Thaddeus Kosciusko, the gallant Pole who came to America to fight in the Revolution. He left it with Mr. Jefferson, and appointed him executor. When Jefferson heard of his death in 1817 he had the will recorded in the office of the Albemarle Circuit Court, where it remained on file until May, 1857. It was then transmitted to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, to be deposited in the State Library.

Mr. Jefferson’s own will, executed here, contained many interesting and touching features. Although overwhelmed with debts, he freed five of his servants. This portion reads as follows:

JEFFERSON’S WILL

“I give to my good, affectionate, and faithful servant, Burwell, his freedom and the sum of three hundred dollars to buy the necessaries to commence his trade of painter and glazier, or to use otherwise as he pleases. I give also to my good servants, John Hemings and Joe Fosset, their freedom at the end of one year after my death, and to each of them respectively, all of the tools of their respective shops or callings, and it is my will that a comfortable log house be built for each of the three servants so emancipated, on some part of my lands convenient to them with respect to the residence of their wives, and to Charlottesville and the University, where they will mostly be employed.—I give the use of an acre of land to each during his life.—I humbly and earnestly request of the legislature of Virginia a confirmation of the bequest of freedom to these servants with permission to remain in this State where their families and connections are, as an additional instance of favor, of which I have received so many manifestations in the course of my life, and for which I now give them my last solemn and dutiful thanks.” (Two boys were to receive their freedom upon coming of age.)

COURT HOUSE VOTING

Until towards the middle of the 1800’s this court house was the sole voting place in Albemarle County. Elections were held on court days. Only “Freeholders”—white, adult males owning at least twenty-five acres of land with a building on it—had the franchise. The secret ballot was unknown. Candidates were required to be present throughout the election, and by popular custom they