Campbell County courthouse gets cleanup

By Sarah Watson,Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: February 6, 2008

Some of the dried chewing gum stuck on the bottom of benches in the Campbell County Historic Courthouse has likely been there since the 1960s.

That was when the county last renovated the inside of the courtroom, which was built in 1848, said Campbell County Historical Society president Rob Merryman.

Tuesday morning, all of the mahogany benches were unscrewed from the floor and dismantled by Tennis Dudley, his daughter, Jane, and two workers.

Over the next six weeks, the Dudleys will repair, refinish and reassemble the benches in their Evington workshop as part of an ongoing effort to renovate the courtroom for the historical society’s museum. The county will also gradually install window blinds and fix the leaking roof, Merryman said.

The renovation will cost the county $16,685.

The benches, which were installed in the 1960s, are gradually succumbing to heat, humidity and aging. Pieces of every single bench have cracked and some have split in two. Some benches that split years ago were repaired with glue, plywood and screws.

“I don’t know what kept these things from falling down,” Tennis Dudley said. “The ends are in good shape, but the backs and seats and supports are terrible.”

Court hasn’t been held in the tiny room with towering ceilings since 1991, but the space is still used occasionally by various county agencies, community groups, and the historical society.

When the benches are finished, Dudley and his crew will dismantle and refurbish the mahogany paneling surrounding the meat of the courtroom. He said the whole job should be complete in about two and a half months.

Those repairs include removing the colorful assortment of gum, which was present under the edge of every single bench.