 |
|
|
Location of seat: New Castle
County Established: 1851
Present Courthouse Built: 1851
|
|
Craig County was formed from parts of neighboring Botetourt, Giles and Roanoke Counties in 1851: It also took some of Monroe County in what is now West Virginia, which was of course part of actual Virginia until 1863. |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Unsurprisingly, Craig County was named for a guy whose last name was Craig. The Craig in question was Robert Craig, who served in the Virginia House of Representatives and the United States House of Representatives on and off from 1817 to 1841. Craig died in 1852, and as he was only 60 when he passed away, he was probably coherent enough to appreciate the fact that a county had been named after him in 1851.
New Castle, Craig County's diminutive seat, was founded in 1818. Plans to expand the town came with a major turnpike through the Cumberland Gap in the 1830's, at which time a tavern was built in town: Little expansion ever came to pass, but that tavern became part of the larger Old Brick Hotel (1840), which sits today across Court Street from the courthouse. Famed 19th-century bad guy Jesse James "might have" spent a night at this hotel...which is technically true of any hotel in operation during James' colorful lifetime. |
|
The Civil War placed an indelible stamp on the Craig County Courthouse. Federal troops tromped through New Castle in both December of 1863 and June of 1864, and local lore has it that a gash in the newel post of an interior stairway was made by an axe-wielding Union soldier...but seeing as the boys in blue frequently burned down Virginia courthouses, I'd say that Craig County got off pretty darned easy! Craig County's Confederate Monument was erected in 1912, and sits smack dab in front of the courthouse. Memorable quotes appear on each of the obelisk's four sides, including the questionable logic of this statement. There are also handsome plaques on either side of the courthouse's front doors, commemorating men of Craig County who fell in the First World War and Second World War.
 Craig County Courthouse's back door, glistening orangely in the rain |
 |
It probably doesn't always rain at Craig County's seat, but it does in my experience! It was raining the pro- verbial cats 'n' dawgz when I arrived in New Castle and, having driven up and up and still further up into the mountains to get to the Craig County Courthouse, I wasn't about to allow a little weather to deter me from taking pictures. |
|
|
 |
 The Old Brick Hotel, 1840 |
|
 The restored Holstine House, or maybe the Holstein Cabin, or perhaps the Hawkins Cabin, depending on which sign or website you believe, was built in the 1790's by a family that farmed the area. This sign sits on the cabin's porch. |
|
|
|
|
