You could call this the duel of the Statues of Justice. But more about that later. We were finally able to add a couple of new courthouses to our collection. I’m not sure – but I believe the total number of courthouses now sits at about 135 – 140. Seriously hope to add to that later this new year. In fact, later this month, we hope to visit the Panola County Courthouse in Carthage, Texas – home of the Texas County Music Hall of Fame.

On a recent trip to visit friends in East Texas, we stopped in Georgetown (Williamson County) and Cameron (Milam County). Two very different courthouses with the first being beaux arts and the latter – Renaissance Revival.

What they each had in common was a prominent Statue of Justice. The Statue atop the Williamson County Courthouse is identified as the goddess Themis. She sits atop a copper dome, is blindfolded and holds both a sword and scales. The statue standing over the Milam County Courthouse is identified as the Goddess of Justice – is not blindfolded, does hold a sword and has something in her left hand that I can’t figure out what it is. Maybe it was scales and they broke off. I can’t find any info on the Internet.

The Milam County statue is not the original. When the courthouse was ‘renovated’ some years ago – the statue was put in safe keeping for future use. The story goes, it was such a safe place, it was never found again.

These are both very good representatives of their styles. In addition to the courthouses, both counties had retired jails which were quite stylish in their own right.  The retired Milam County Jail is a hulking red brick Romanesque-style building with a hanging tower.  The retired Williamson County Jail is a little lighter in style and color – being built with gray stone in the Bastile Style.  I also added collections of photos of the Georgetown Courthouse Square and the photos of the Williamson County Restoration process.