First Picture is circa late 1940's by Mr. Wendell Page, the second July 17, 2008 by Garry Morgan. The chimney is all that remains of the old Martin Tavern & Inn; Bellefonte means "beautiful spring."
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The following is a brief history of Bellefonte from the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce web site. " The first courthouse was built at Bellefonte, just after the year 1828. It served the people of the Jackson County thirty-five years or longer. When an Act was passed in the Legislature to vote on moving the county seat from Bellefonte, approved December 17, 1859, and for nine years the question was before the people. Finally Scottsboro became the county seat and the county records were moved from Bellefonte on Friday, November 13, 1868." http://www.jacksoncountychamber.com/history.html
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There is a debate over how the Bellefonte Court House met its fate toward the end of the Civil War. Some say the "Yankees" burned it to the ground. Others say one or more local property owners burned the Court House to destroy property records in order to increase their own holdings thru fraud, the true story is up for debate. However the Federal Army utilized the building for a Headquarters on more than one occasion. Learned local historians have stated it was burned by one or more local citizens.
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It would seem the ghost of Bellefonte still haunts the area as a vacant nuclear facility sits idle. The same ghost may haunt TVA coffers, their debt of $22 billion and a debt cap of $30 billion, against a $14-18 billion dollar new Bellefonte Nuclear Facility spells another haunting possibility, a financially insolvent TVA. No $12 million annual dollars for Jackson County Government entities. Are we sure we need another nuclear ghost? >>>>
Ghostly markers of our history, kind of like the Pb 212 (radioactive lead) found in our water supply in 1999. Testing for radioactive substances is not an annual event, unfortunately.
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