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Board to submit courthouse district nomination to state; excavation finds raise chronology questions
Summary
Board members said the courthouse historic-district nomination is complete and will be submitted to the Department of Historic Resources; reconnaissance excavations at a nearby hotel produced mixed materials that prompted questions about construction chronology and artifact contexts.
The board reported the nomination of the courthouse as a National Register historic district is complete and will be submitted to the Department of Historic Resources shortly. The chair noted staff planned further excavations at a nearby hotel and said, “we’ll be out there tomorrow,” while explaining one outstanding question concerns whether Hills Hotel was built immediately after the courthouse tavern burned in 1897.
Staff described mixed archaeological and architectural finds — hand-made brick, 18th-century debris, and 20th-century interior material — and said those mixed contexts complicate dating. The board reviewed the likely state review timetable: staff edits typically take one to three months, state volunteer review scheduling can add delay, and National Park Service processing can add another six to nine months before federal listing.
