The Old Orange County Courthouse stands at the corner of Hillsborough’s Churton and King streets, the site of three previous courthouses. The building was designed and built by Hillsborough native John Berry over the course of 1844 and 1845. The Greek Revival structure is considered to be Berry’s masterpiece and received immediate praise, the Hillsborough Recorder noting in 1846 that it was “not surpassed by any courthouse in the state . . . perhaps not surpassed in the Union.” The cupola clock sitting atop the building was given to Hillsborough in the 1760s by either King George III or Lord Hillsborough, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and for whom the town was named. The courthouse served as Orange County’s seat of government until 1954 when the current courthouse building was completed. Though no longer the seat, the old courthouse is still used for county judicial business. The Old Orange County Courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
Old Orange County Courthouse
