Probate Court Judge Pat Hardaway remembers her early days at the Columbia County Courthouse about 30 years ago.
Waiting tables and pouring tea were common outside the aging courthouse on U.S. Highway 221 in Appling.
``There were lots of good times and lots of good memories,'' said Judge Hardaway, who has presided over Columbia County Probate Court for two decades and spent about 30 years in county government.
The courthouse -- referred to locally as Georgia's oldest operating courthouse -- has been the subject of controversy and confusion throughout its history.
From the county's beginning in 1790, residents disagreed over where to build the courthouse.
According to historical records, Columbia County was carved from Richmond County because of an argument over locating a courthouse in Augusta vs. what today is Columbia County. There are reports that there had been a courthouse at Cobbham, Ga., near the McDuffie County line. The Appling location apparently stemmed from a feud between two prominent residents -- William Few and William Appling -- who had different preferences for a courthouse site.
But in 1792, Mr. Appling sold the five acres where the courthouse now sits to Columbia County for five shillings. What happened between then and 1856 is confusing. At least two courthouses have occupied the site, although some historical accounts indicate the existence of three buildings.
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Twin staircases show the way to the courtroom at the courthouse in Appling.
JIM BLAYLOCK/STAFF
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Some reports show Appling's first courthouse opened in 1799, with a second completed in 1812 by David Stanford for $6,869. A third courthouse -- the current building -- was supposedly opened in 1856. But documents found in 1985 suggest the existing courthouse could be the 1812 building.
Either way, Columbia County's courthouse -- simple in design with the exception of its Italianate brackets around the cornice -- has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980.
And it won't be the last courthouse to serve the county. In 1998, voters supported a measure to build a judicial center in Evans to serve as a courthouse annex. The Appling building will continue as the county's official courthouse, and as the law requires; court will be held in the historic building twice a year.
But with a growing county and court system, the Appling courthouse doesn't meet the county's needs.
Renovations to the Appling courthouse will begin after the Evans annex is completed, County Administrator Steve Szablewski said. Crews are expected to break ground later this year on the Evans annex next to the Evans Government Complex on Washington West Drive.
``It's like some of the clothes in my closet,'' Judge Hardaway said of the Appling courthouse. ``There's nothing wrong with them. They just don't fit.''
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A drawing of the courthouse as it looked in 1820.
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Clerk of Court Mary Reeves, who has worked at the courthouse since 1961 and has been clerk since 1989, said she remembers when the county had fewer than 10,000 residents. That was before the courthouse had to stay open for lunch to accommodate a growing population, which today approaches 100,000.
Like Judge Hardaway, Ms. Reeves helped serve tea and prepare plates for courthouse staff members and visitors. The courthouse would close, and lunch -- usually barbecue -- would be served at the nearby home of G.B. Pollard Sr. Mr. Pollard and his son, G.B. ``Jake'' Pollard Jr., served as clerk of court.
In those days, the courthouse was almost a social setting at lunch time. Even local businessmen would come out for the barbecues, Ms. Reeves said.
``People would just turn out,'' she recalled. ``I don't know how they happened to be there.''
As the county grew, so did court services, and the building became too small.
``We have really grown in the last 10 years,'' Ms. Reeves said.
Forty years ago, county commissioners toyed with moving court services to Evans.
In the late 1970s, the debate reached the Georgia Court of Appeals.
Superior Court Judge Franklin Pierce had asked the Columbia County Commission to renovate the dilapidated courthouse, which suffered from years of neglect. And for years, grand jurors had cited deplorable conditions and requested relief. The roof leaked and the walls were peeling. The building had no air conditioning or central heat. So during summers, the courtroom windows stayed open, creating a noise problem from passing trucks on Highway 221.
The Columbia County Courthouse was declared one of the worst 20 courthouses in the state in 1975.
In 1977, a state fire marshal condemned the courthouse, and a grand jury term was canceled while the county renovated the building with air conditioning, central heat and new windows in the upstairs courtroom. Contractors padlocked the building twice because the county did not pay for work that had been done.
Judge Pierce ordered the clerk of court in November 1978 to withhold money collected for fines and court costs until the county agreed to complete renovations. Commissioners did so but reneged on the promise the next February. Commissioners debated spending money on renovations while discussing moving court services to Evans.
Commissioners were ordered to appear before the judge April 2, 1979, for a contempt-of-court hearing that could have meant fines and jail time. In the hearing -- which Judge Pierce presided over after refusing to remove himself from the proceedings -- commissioners were found in contempt and appealed to the Georgia Court of Appeals. The higher court reversed Judge Pierce's decision.
In the end, the county added carpet to the stairway and upstairs courtroom and repaired the roof and ceiling. And 20 years later, Columbia County is finally getting an Evans judicial building.
The fact that the annex will be built in Evans is no cause for alarm for historic Appling and the old courthouse, Judge Hardaway said.
``I don't think by any stretch of the imagination that Appling is going to dry up,'' she said.
Peggy Ussery can be reached at (706) 868-1222, Ext. 112, or ussery@augustachronicle.com.
