The Academy and Courthouse
S. Maxie Jackson House
David Jackson House
James Harper House
The Academy in 1900
The Academy Today:James Harper House
The Church/Courthouse Referenced in the Accompanying Articles
Copied: The Cheraw Chronicle Bicentennial Edition
A two-story wooden building built in 1786 served as a courthouse. It was located behind the present courthouse and measured 50 feet by 40 feet. In 1825, the early courthouse was moved to another site where it was used as a schoolhouse, giving Academy Street its name. Editor’s Note: I can’t find it today, but I recall reading that the first building was made of logs.
Copied: Chesterfield AdvertiserArticle from September 3, 1925 Issue Referring to W. D. Craig’s First Visit to Chesterfield
My first visit to Chesterfield was made November 12, 1845, the memorable famine year of this section of the 19th century. There was almost nothing made on the farms. They could not get supplies enough for people and stock ...... Coming on down the street to where S. M. Jackson now lives, we came to a big grove and an imposing two-story building, 40 by 50 feet, which was the village schoolhouse.
Copied: Baptist Church History
Some years later the organization moved to the present location and purchased the old Methodist Church building for a sum of $400. The church had been used as a courthouse since Sherman burned the courthouse in March of 1865, and it was not rebuilt until 1884. The Baptists, after using this building for a few years, sold it to the trustees of the school who moved it to the lot now occupied by the residence of S. M. Jackson. Editor’s Note: Mr. S. M. Jackson was the father of David Jackson. David and his wife Lena lived in the house in the 50’s and 60's.
Copied: Chesterfield Advertiser–Some Historical Facts About Chesterfield 1786 - 1970 by Madge Craig Curtis
In January of 1886, they bought the old Methodist Church which stood where the Amoco service station is now. This building had been used not only as a Church but as the courthouse for about twenty years following the burning of our courthouse. The Baptists worshiped in this building only a few years and then sold it to the trustees of the school who moved it. The building stands where David Jackson now lives.
Copied: Cheraw Chronicle Bicentennial Edition
Our first schoolhouse was used as early as 1830. There were two large rooms but not many facilities for the young children; so some of us spent our first years in the private school of Miss Lizzie Geddes down on the east side of Green Street.
Copied: Walter R. Burr, Jr. Handwritten History 1886, Page 4
The night of March 2, 1865, General Wm. Sherman gave his men orders to burn the Chesterfield County SC Courthouse. The torch was also put to the Chesterfield Academy that was located on the south side of Main Street and old Highway # 85 South. The torch started several other fires in our town of Chesterfield.
Copied: Article Presented by Sarah Trotti Farmer at the Children of the Confederacy Meeting
In writing this article about Chesterfield County's courthouse of 1827 - 1865, I must tell a little about her first courthouse, as the story would not be complete without it. The first courthouse in Chesterfield County was a wooden structure, built in 1786, one hundred and forty years ago, just one year after the county came into existence. This building was 50 x 40 feet, a two-story model, and stood just back of the courthouse now in use. In 1827, ninety-nine years ago, the people of the county decide to build a more modern and larger courthouse; therefore, the original one was moved to where Mr. Maxie Jackson now lives and was used as a schoolhouse.
Elizabeth Ann Gaddy Rivers: This house that was originally The Academy has undergone some changes and additions in recent years. It is the home of James and Christy Russell Harper.