Aug. 12, 2026
Aaron Baker
For BrevardBeagle.com
How many hours of public and private discourse have been spent debating the fate of the historic Transylvania County Courthouse? Countless diligently transcribed meeting minutes of the Board of Transylvania County Commissioners, past and present, are chock-full of references to the iconic building. Facebook diatribes. Early-morning debates at bakeries. All for good reason.
Transylvania County Library map room collection
The history of the Italianate-style brick courthouse at the top of Jailhouse Hill is so deeply rooted in this place it predates the colloquial name of the very ground it sits on. The first brick building in Brevard, North Carolina, our courthouse was well into its fifth decade on the hill before an annex for a jail was added in 1921. Underneath the proud mansard roof of its central tower and between the sturdy brick walls is contained the civic lives of eight generations of Transylvanians – voting, debating, assembling, litigating, advocating, campaigning, celebrating, and mourning. The Board of County Commissioners held their regular meetings in the courthouse as late as 2007.
But the history of a collectively owned space at the center of our town is even deeper than the fire-red brick of the county courthouse. Transylvania County and the City of Brevard were established by the very same act of the North Carolina General Assembly in 1861. Immediately after, local leaders drew up a plat map for the new 50-acre townsite, showing at its very center an open space clearly labeled “Public Square.”
This means years before these same leaders set aside $12,000 in 1874 to construct a stately brick courthouse, Main and Broad streets already framed a public square at the top of this hill – a place which became the central heartbeat of a burgeoning community. Even before our historic courthouse rose from the ground, this space belonged to the people.
The tortured decision-making that led to county court functions moving to the Public Safety Facility on Morris Road is too extensive and circuitous to discuss in a column like this. What must be acknowledged is the finality of this decision by the County Commissioners. Ahead of us is arguably an even more momentous and historical choice.
What should become of our courthouse located within the public square in the heart of Brevard, the seat of Transylvania County?
Transylvania County Library map room collection
The ground beneath this public square holds witness to our collective consciousness. If asked to ‘drop a pin’ on a map to locate the soul of this community, what other spot would even be in the running? Nothing comes close. We honor our war dead here. Our children begin dreaming as they see Christmas lights brighten the night. We peacefully assemble to petition the government to address our grievances. We mourn those lost too early with candlelit vigils. Every year on the anniversary of the founding of our nation, we reaffirm our rights and remember our history. We dance in the street. We see our neighbors eye-to-eye and speak with them face-to-face.
As digital life seems to pull us further and further from one another, the physical spaces we can share gain ever more importance. We once imagined the internet to be a sort of high-tech public square. This naive dream of a worldwide web bringing us closer together seems more depressing than quaint in the Year of our Lord 2026.
Just a few years removed from a worldwide pandemic, our kids aren’t the only ones struggling to rebuild social skills and rejoin society. Civil discourse matters. History matters. Our traditional meeting spot at the intersection of Main and Broad should remain the people’s place. The front doors should be wide open and welcoming to all. Courthouse or City Hall, it should always be the Public Square.
Aaron Baker is mayor pro tem and a second-term member of Brevard City Council. A Transylvania County resident of over two decades, he calls Brevard home with his teenage son. Each month he writes “A. Baker’s Dozen” for BrevardBeagle.com, taking a closer look at the local issues behind the headlines. He can be reached for comment at aaron.baker@cityofbrevard.com.