WHERE WE STAND: We’ll meet in the middle

Math is definitely a four-letter word of the negative type when it comes to me personally.

Especially loathsome were the word problems in school that started, “One train leaves Chicago heading east at 60 mph ... .”

The point was to figure out where and when two trains would meet of course.

These problems however, always left me less educated in math and more aggravated, wondering why the two trains didn’t just use separate tracks!

Legend has it that the location for the original Darlington courthouse was determined in a somewhat similar way, just minus the trains.

Page 507 in Horace F. Rudisill’s Darlingtonia says, “Col. Lemuel Benton wanted it built at Mechanicsville and Capt. Elias DuBose, who lived near Early’s Cross Roads (then known as Cuffey or Coffee Town), wanted it located there. They agreed to ride horseback starting from their respective communities, at a given rate of speed, and that the Court House should be built on the spot at which they met.

Hence, in 1785, the courthouse was erected at a crossroads midway between Mechanicsville and Cuffey Town.”

Memory and records indicate that the site chosen was on land owned by John King Sr. The memories of early Darlington inhabitants become more important when we realize that when this first courthouse burned around 1804, many records contained within also were lost.

Gen. Joseph Burch Nettles writes the next courthouse was a two-story building of wood but was replaced between 1810 and 1812 by a two-story brick building. The wooden building was sold to Rasha Cannon, moved and converted to a hotel.

During the next 14 years, the hotel was sold twice, and finished as the large Darlington Hotel.

One has to wonder how many of the boarders knew they were sleeping in one of the towns’ temporary courthouses.

Nettles tells us that another brick courthouse was built by General McIver in 1825-26. He says this building was the one that burned in 1866.

Today’s historical marker, however, suggests that that building likely was designed by the well-known Robert Mills. Differing sources indicate that it took between four and 11 years to rebuild after the fire.

The record becomes clearer with the replacement of the 1870s courthouse in 1903-04. Among other things, the building was designed with the consideration of ladies in mind, “A private room for ladies whenever it is necessary that they shall attend court” was included next to the courtroom in the architects plans, according to an article by Horace Rudisill from 1965.

Also interesting to note, “All offices were to have fireplaces ...until it is deemed advisable to put in a furnace.” 

This building was turned over to the county Oct. 18, 1904, as completed, and by early November, all but one official had moved in.

Anyone passing through the modern square in the last 20 years or so has hopefully noticed the beautiful mural of this structure and the downtown area as it appeared in the early 1900s.

In 1964, county officials were again offered new and improved work space with the construction of the current courthouse that towers above the square today.

Visitors can find ample parking in the vicinity of the square. Take a simple walk around the modern courthouse and pause a moment to read the numerous monuments and markers. You might be surprised at the history that surrounds the spot where you stand.

— Gretchen Huggins is a Francis Marion University history graduate. Her column, “Where We Stand,” appears Mondays in the Morning News and on scnow.com. Contact her at .