By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
ROCKINGHAM — A grant from The Cole Foundation is helping the Richmond County Historical Society fund the refurbishment of the 1891 courthouse bell.
Photo courtesy Richmond County Historical Society
The “rediscovered” 1891 courthouse bell was moved Jan 28, 2014, from the “old” (1925) courthouse basement to begin the process of restoring it.
The goal, said society president Dr. John Stevenson, is to have the historic bell put on permanent display between the limestone-covered 1924 courthouse and the new brick-covered Richmond County Judicial Center in downtown Rockingham.
Stevenson told an audience of approximately three dozen Monday night during the society’s regular monthly meeting at Rockingham City Hall that contracts are waiting to be signed for the stand on which the bell will be set and the granite monument at the sidewalk level for an inscription about the bell.
Once both are installed, according to the society’s monthly newsletter, a dedication ceremony will be staged and the monument unveiled. Since the bell and its clapper will be locked in place so it won’t ring, the key to the lock will be handed over to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
Stevenson noted there never was a formal dedication of the new Judicial Center and that this ceremony could give the building some well-deserved recognition.
Stevenson and the Historical Society paid special thanks to Ed Snyder, of the society’s board of directors, for restoring the bell.
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