Charles Town Magistrate Court

Charles Town Magistrate Court is the Magistrate court of Jefferson county.

Several of the old homes in Charles Town are of historic importance and are listed as Charles Town Historic Landmarks. The oldest house built in the original boundaries of Charles Town is the Tiffin House completed around 1787. The building is constructed of logs with a brick face. Although the home has undergone many changes including the addition of a wing at the rear; it still has its Georgian mantels and a spiral staircase with a mahogany rail, features representative of the period. The Gibson-Todd House is a brick Victorian circa 1892 whose site includes the spot upon which John Brown’s execution took place. The Rankin House is an unusual structure whose original building is a log structure built somewhere in the period from 1789 to 1791. There is an exterior batten door slightly below the current street level since at the time the original structure was built the street level was lower. Around 1810 changes were made to add a formal dining room with the cooking kitchen relocated to the east wing of the house. However, the interior woodwork is still in place and the barrel vaulting of the walls in the front parlor with original curved chair moldings still remains