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OBSERVATIONS
November 28, 2019 |
 |
Justice Sam Ervin
IV addresses high-school students and others prior to
one of two sessions of the N.C. Supreme Court held
here last Friday morning.
 Wingate Lassiter |
For a day, Smithfield served as the
"judicial
capital of North Carolina"
Smithfield is one of the oldest towns in the state, chartered in 1777 when settlements beyond North Carolina's coastal region were few and far between. There was no Raleigh or Durham then. The next incorporated town with a courthouse to the west of us was Hillsborough.
That's why Smithfield was chosen as one of several cities and towns to host a session of the North Carolina Supreme Court this year and next as its celebrates the 200th anniversary of the court's establishment during the nation's formative years.
Legend has it that Smithfield, one of several places considered by the N.C. General Assembly as the permanent site of the state capital back then, "lost by one vote." Documented history doesn't support that.
Even so, the Johnston County courthouse in Smithfield was the sight of a session of the state's General Assembly in 1779. The reason? A smallbox outbreak in the colonial capital of New Bern prompted Governor Richard Caswell to move the legislature temporarily to Smithfield for a session held May 3-15.
But Smithfield didn't get rave reviews for its hospitality, as the town didn't have much besides its wood-frame courthouse. Whitmell Hill, one of the state's delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia who attended the General Assembly's session here, called Smithfield "a rascally hole for such a meeting" in a letter to a colleague.
OK, so we didn't measure up to "capital city" status, which went to an upstart to the west we now know as Raleigh.
But for a day last Friday, Smithfield could lay claim as the "judicial capital of North Carolina" --- a nice consolation for a town once considered for the big prize.
THIS WEEK'S FALL COLOR CHAMP
The Japanese maples are showing their brilliant red leaves all over town, like these specimens gleaming in Monday's bright sunshine beside South First Street.
HONORABLEMENTION
The mighty oaks weren't quite as spectacular as the maples this week yet they deserve "honorable mention" nonetheless. This large oak in golden dress is one of several showing their colors between Riverside Cemetery and the kiddie park beside South Second Street.
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