The old Habersham County courthouse in Clarkesville has been reduced to a heap of rubble, but one of its oldest relics remains intact: a century-old brass bell. While rumors have swirled that the bell could be missing, Habersham located it earlier this week.
Habersham County’s first courthouse, a wooden structure built in 1821 in Clarkesville, was replaced in 1832 by a two-story brick building. After being damaged by an explosion in 1898, it was replaced the same year with a larger brick courthouse featuring a clock tower. This third courthouse stood until 1963, when it was demolished before a fourth (recently demolished) courthouse was built in 1964.
Questions about the bell’s whereabouts surfaced earlier this week after former Habersham County commissioner Terry Watts commented on a Facebook post by Now Habersham, suggesting it could be unaccounted for. Watts claimed the bell was still in the courthouse when it was shut down in 2019, and alleged that former Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell took it down without approval.
“The bell has been out of the old courthouse for four years before the demolition,” Watts said. “The (former) sheriff took it down…the sheriff cannot go into any government building and remove anything, not even an ink pen, without the county commission’s approval. He just went in there and took the bell down anyway. The bell was in the safest place it could’ve been until he took it down.”
In anticipation of the building’s future demolition, Terrell said he and a friend with a construction company used a forklift in 2020 to carefully remove the bell, placing it on a pallet, relocating the thing onto the roof of the courthouse, then lowering it safely to the ground below.
Terrell said all of this was done solely to preserve the bell and its history.
“They were going to have to pay somebody to get it down, so I did it without having to be paid,” Terrell said. “It didn’t cost the county a dime. I didn’t want the courthouse being sold with the bell still inside of it. That belongs to the county. It belongs to the people.”
After removal, the bell was initially covered with a tarp and stored beneath a shed at the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office before it was eventually transferred to Piedmont Metal Processing company.
Today, the bell is in the safe custody of Jeff Ferguson, former owner of Piedmont Metal, inside a warehouse on the company’s property.
Terrell said he’s long-wanted to see the bell put on display on government property for the public to admire – which county officials are actively planning.
“Somebody needs to pick up the mantle of getting that done,” he said.
Phil Sutton, who was county manager at the time, agreed that Terrell was acting in the best interest of the people and county property.
“If (the bell) was left there, it was not going to be positive,” Sutton said.
Habersham County Attorney Donnie Hunt said Terrell was acting within his legal authority in removing the bell for what the former sheriff considered the public good.
“I would say, generally, the sheriff does have that right to protect county property,” Hunt said. “The sheriff is an independent elected official…I would say the sheriff would have about as much authority as the board of commissioners would have to remove it – especially given the historical value of it.”
Habersham County Manager Tim Sims confirmed the bell will soon be restored and publicly displayed at the new Habersham County Courthouse.
“That’s all in the works right now,” Sims said.
