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Culpeper’s Original Courthouses, the Stamp Act Protests, and the Culpeper Resolves

LOCATION: 105 North Main Street, Culpeper

This is the site if the first (1750-1808) and second (1809-1870) courthouses of Culpeper County, thought to be laid out by Culpeper County’s first surveyor, George Washington, in 1749.  At the first courthouse two important events occurred.  On October 31, 1765, a protest of the Stamp Act by the Culpeper Court Justices challenged English actions.  The most important protest on July 7, 1774 produced the Culpeper County Resolves.  A committee of Culpeper County freeholders drafted the Culpeper Resolves in response to Parliament’s recently passed Coercive Acts and Governor Dunmore’s closure of Virginia’s House of Burgesses.  The Culpeper Resolves repudiated the actions of Parliament and Dunmore and pledged “at all times, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, oppose any act imposing such taxes or duties, unless we are legally represented.”  Culpeper was one of Virginia’s earliest counties to publish resolves in 1774.

Marker installed July 9, 2024

 

Reference Material

The Culpeper Resolves as they appeared in the July 14, 1774 issue of the Virginia Gazette.

Culpeper’s second courthouse building in 1862 seen looking east towards Main Street from West Davis Street.  Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Culpeper’s second courthouse building in 1862 seen looking north along Main Street.  Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Contact Us

Museum of Culpeper History
113 S. Commerce Street
Culpeper, VA 22701

Phone: (540) 829-1749

Hours

Monday-Saturday:
10am – 4pm

Sunday:
1pm – 4pm

CLOSED: Thanksgiving Day, Day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day

 

 

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