NORWOOD LAW OFFICE

Norwood Law Office, which stands on its original site in the extreme southwest corner of Lot 2, is the only surviving of three offices shown on this lot on an 1839 map. The one-story, front-gabled, Federal-style building is constructed with a one-to-five common bond brick and has boxed eaves. The one-room building has nine-over-nine wood-sash windows with flat brick arches and operable wood shutters. There is a one-to-five common bond chimney in the rear (east) gable and the stone foundation has been covered with stucco on the right (south) elevation. A standing-seam metal roof has been replaced with wood shakes. A six-panel door on the west elevation, faces the Orange County Courthouse. The interior features a Federal-style mantel, brick hearth, and continuous wainscoting. The office may have originally belonged to Judge William Norwood who died in 1842. Local historians have noted that the office was occupied by Cadwalader Jones in the mid-nineteenth century, presumably through a lease as a deed conveying title to him is not known to exist. In 1866, attorney Richard Ashe sold the office to John Wall Norwood for $400. Norwood was a member of the General Assembly in 1858 and a state senator in 1872. The Orange County Commissioners purchased the building and used it as the Veteran's Administration office.

Circa 1920 - looking southeast from the top of the courthouse (from "History of the Town of Hillsborough")

Circa 1940 (photo courtesy of Orange County DEAPR)

07.02.2016 (G. Kueber)