This drawing by Anthony Kessler is in the Botetourt County Museum. It shows Botetourt County’s first courthouse built in 1770 in Miller’s Mill, now Fincastle. Thirteen citizens were appointed Justices of the Peace by Great Britain to enforce the laws. They ordered that a log courthouse be built similar to all Virginia frontier courthouses. The center was 24 feet long and 20 feet wide with a clapboard roof and two small sheds on each side for jury rooms. The courtyard contained stocks. Court records preserved from this day provide us with a record of life during this Colonial period.
