During the Civil War, on April 17, 1865, Major General George Stoneman occupied the building and destroyed most of the County’s records.
In 1885 the exterior of the building was covered with stucco. In 1903 a major renovation designed by architect Frank Milburn of Columbia, SC raised the porticos and replaced the simple classical cupola with an elaborate one of Baroque style, giving the courthouse its present appearance.
The Historic Courthouse was in continuous use until 1976 when the present Burke County Courthouse was completed. The effort to preserve the Historic Courthouse began in 1978. The restoration, completed in 1984, was accomplished with the joint efforts of Burke County, the City of Morganton, and Historic Burke Foundation. It is the oldest standing Courthouse in Western North Carolina.
The North Carolina Supreme Court met in the Old Chowan County Courthouse in Edenton in 2004, and again in 2013. In 2015, Governor McCrory signed Senate Bill 161 into law (S.L. 2015-89), allowing the court to meet in Morganton once again, “…the court shall meet in the Old Burke County Courthouse, the location of summer sessions of the Supreme Court from 1847-1862.” After 155 years, in 2016 and again in 2018, the court once more held session in the Historic Courthouse. It continues to host the court at every opportunity.
The Historic Courthouse Square
The Courthouse Square and grounds are maintained by the City of Morganton with various festivals, events, and gatherings on the lawn scheduled by the city's Main Street Department.
The Charters of Freedom, located to the north of the courthouse, were installed July 2, 2014, by Foundation Forward. These include The Declaration of Independence, The United States Constitution, and The Bill of Rights.
A statue of Senator Sam J. Ervin, Jr., is located outside the Green Street entrance to the Historic Courthouse. Ervin, a Burke County native, served in the US Senate from 1954 to 1974 and gained national prominence in his role as Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities during the Watergate Scandal.
Also found on the Square is a memorial rose garden given in memory of Bob Byrd (1930-2001), a prominent Burke County attorney.
On the northwestern corner of the lawn, a monument to confederate soldiers of Burke County was erected in 1911. The bronze statue of the soldier was added in 1918, as a gift from Captain William Joseph Kincaid, a Burke County Confederate soldier.
The land under the building extending to Sterling, Union, and Green streets and a portion extend toward Meeting street as well as the structure of the Historic Burke County Courthouse are owned by Burke County. The City of Morganton owns the portion of land along Meeting Street abutting courthouse grounds and maintains the grounds for the entire square along with the interior of the Historic Courthouse in an agreement with the county. Historic Burke Foundation, a non-profit, runs the day to day operations of the building, Heritage Museum, and courtroom with a majority of volunteers and small staff as a part of its mission.
Installed on the Historic Burke County Courthouse Square, the Community Mandala celebrates the people, history, and natural heritage of Burke County. The design originated during the 2019 visit of Tibetan monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery, when residents joined in creating a community mandala while the monks completed a traditional sand mandala at CoMMA. Following Tibetan tradition, the monks ceremonially released their finished mandala into the Catawba River, symbolizing the impermanence of life. Today, the permanent mandala on Courthouse Square—designed by City of Morganton Project Designer Michael Berley and donated by the Burke Board of Realtors—serves as a lasting reminder of the community's shared history and culture. Visitors interested in the symbolism of the design can find additional interpretive information through the City of Morganton's Community Mandala page.
To schedule events inside the building, please contact Historic Burke Foundation. To schedule events outside the building, please contact Morganton Main Street and Morganton Public Safety.
Historic Burke County Courthouse
In 1830 the Burke County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions decided that the County needed a new courthouse to replace the “shabby, weather-beaten” plank courthouse that had been built on the public square in 1784. The General Assembly of 1830-31 authorized it to spend $8,000 and named five commissioners to oversee the construction. In the 1832-33 sessions, the General Assembly increased the amount to $12,000.
James Binnie, a Scottish builder, was awarded the contract in 1833. He built the courthouse of native stone quarried on the Forney plantation about four miles north of Morganton. Frederick Roderick, a German stonemason who later established his home in Burke County, assisted Mr. Binnie with the construction. The building was put into use in 1837.
From 1847 until 1862, the North Carolina Supreme Court held its August session in the Historic Courthouse for the convenience of lawyers from the western part of the state who were arguing appeals from the Superior Courts of their respective counties.
The Captain Charles McDowell, Jr. House at Quaker Meadows
The place name “Quaker Meadows” was given to the area by Joseph McDowell (1715-1771). He received two Crown Patents in 1749 and 1750. The acreage in the earlier grant contained a large meadow. Tradition holds that Joseph named the area Quaker Meadows after his home in Frederick County, Virginia.
On this property, Joseph’s sons, Revolutionary War leaders Charles and Joseph, gathered the Overmountain Men on September 30, 1780. These patriot soldiers from Virginia, current-day Tennessee, and Wilkes and Surry Counties in North Carolina, met under a giant oak tree now known as the Council Oak and laid plans leading to the defeat of the loyalists under British Major Patrick Ferguson at the Battle of Kings Mountain, a turning point of the Revolutionary War in the South.
The house at Quaker Meadows was built in 1812 by Captain Charles McDowell, Jr. in anticipation of his marriage the following year to his cousin, Anna McDowell of Pleasant Gardens. By 1850, Charles and Anna had created a thriving estate of over 1500 acres including 52 enslaved people. Here they reared their six children and three orphaned relatives, including Harriet Newell Espy, future wife of two-time North Carolina Governor (1862-65) and (1877-79) Zebulon Baird Vance.
The house was a center of social activity in antebellum Burke County. Both Charles and Anna died in 1859. Their only surviving son, Colonel James Charles McDowell, was killed in action during the Civil War.
Architecture
An outstanding example of vernacular federal style architecture, the house was constructed of brick made on site and laid in the Flemish bond pattern on a foundation of coursed granite rubble. It features a corbelled brick cornice and tall exterior end chimneys. Window and door openings are topped with flat jack arches. Built on the “Quaker” or “continental” floor plan typical to Pennsylvania and the Shenandoah Valley, it has twin entries both front and back, one large room on one side of an enclosed stairway, and two rooms on the other side. One of several Catawba Valley plantation homes built on this plan, Quaker Meadows is the oldest known brick structure in Burke County. The bricks were handmade at Quaker Meadows.
The elaborate mantel and wainscoting in the parlor are thought to have been brought up from Charleston because the work workmanship is more sophisticated than that found in the other rooms or other early houses in the area.
Wallpapers used in the house are reproductions of patterns from the period 1810-1840 and were donated by the manufacturer, Twigs, of Venice, California.
Donated to Historic Burke Foundation by Crescent Land and Timber Corporation in 1986, the house has been restored to its 1812 appearance, and the detached kitchen, known as the Kistler Kitchen, has been reconstructed on its original foundation.
A lovely kitchen garden, located at the rear of the house, is maintained by the Mimosa Garden Club
Each September, Historic Burke Foundation, along with community volunteers, descendants of Burke County Revolutionary War patriots, Overmountain Victory Trail Association members, and the public, commemorate the September 1780 gathering under the Council Oak at Quaker Meadows. Events include Living History Days for Burke County 4th graders, a commemorative Crossing of the Catawba River at Greenlee Ford, and an afternoon of colonial activities at the Captain Charles McDowell, Jr. House.
Quaker Meadows Cemetery
Included on the National Register of Historic Places, the cemetery is located at 124 Branstrom Drive, Morganton, NC in a small, quiet neighborhood.
As the cemetery is extremely fragile, the gates are kept locked. To arrange a tour, fill out our reservation form or call our office at (828) 437-4104. Please allow a minimum of two weeks notice as a docent must be scheduled to unlock the gates and accompany all visitors. A spare, rough trail on uneven ground follows the outside of the cemetery.
Quaker Meadows Cemetery contains gravestones dating from 1767 to 1878. It is located on a portion of the land settled by Joseph McDowell the Pioneer (1715 – 1771) for more than a hundred years part of Quaker Meadows and is the resting place of members of prominent Burke County families. Ten Patriots of the American Revolution are buried here.
General Charles McDowell
Major Joseph McDowell
Margaret O'Neal McDowell*
Grace Greenlee McDowell*
Colonel Alexander Erwin
Sarah Robinson Erwin*
Captain James Murphy
Samuel Tate, Senior
James Greenlee
John Greenlee
The cemetery was restored in 1981 by the Quaker Meadows Cemetery Corporation and was deeded to Historic Burke Foundation in 1992.
*Women of Courage: the Patriot women of Quaker Meadows Cemetery
Nestled on Belvidere Lane just off Piedmont Road in Morganton, the Erwin Family Cemetery preserves the history of one of Burke County's most influential early families. Containing twenty-one known graves dating from 1822 to 1894, the cemetery overlooks the former site of Belvidere, the plantation home built in 1802 by Colonel William Willoughby Erwin, son of Revolutionary War Captain Arthur Erwin. Although the house was destroyed by fire in 1929, it was once regarded as one of the county's finest early homes and served as the center of a large estate whose descendants played important roles in Burke County's military, political, judicial, and social history.
Colonel Erwin married Matilda Sharpe of Iredell County, daughter of Revolutionary statesman Colonel William Sharpe. Together they raised sixteen children, forging family connections that linked the Erwins with many of western North Carolina's most prominent families, including the McDowells, Averys, Reeses, and others. Their descendants included legislators, military officers, attorneys, civic leaders, and educators whose influence extended well beyond Burke County.
The cemetery itself reflects both the prominence and humanity of the family. Alongside the graves of Colonel William Willoughby Erwin, Matilda Sharpe Erwin, and their descendants are the resting places of numerous children, reminding visitors of the realities of life in nineteenth-century America, when childhood illness and early death were tragically common.
One of the cemetery's most remembered stories concerns Mary Elvira Erwin, affectionately known as "Little Mary." According to local tradition recorded by historian S. C. Kerley, she requested that no costly monument be erected over her grave, asking instead that the money be given to "the poor and destitute" - a final act of humility that has been remembered in Burke County for generations. Kerley also preserved stories of John A. McKesson, a young visitor from Wilkes County who died unexpectedly while visiting relatives at Belvidere, and of three formerly enslaved individuals who, at their own request, were buried near the Erwin family they had served, illustrating the complex and deeply personal relationships that existed on the plantation.
Historic Burke Foundation has been entrusted with preserving this important landmark for future generations. In 2012, the cemetery underwent significant restoration through an Eagle Scout project led by Drew McMahon. Following damage to the stone retaining wall in later years, the wall was meticulously rebuilt and restored in 2026 by Eagle Scout Garrett Tait, continuing a tradition of community stewardship and ensuring that one of Burke County's most significant family cemeteries remains protected and accessible for future generations.