Landmark
Rhea County Courthouse
The 1891 courthouse that hosted the century's most famous trial.
Built in 1891, the Rhea County Courthouse is best known as the site of the July 1925 Scopes Evolution Trial, where Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan argued the case of Dayton teacher John T. Scopes before a worldwide press corps. The building is a National Historic Landmark, and the second-floor courtroom has been restored to its trial-era appearance.
It still works for a living: this is Rhea County's active courthouse, anchoring downtown Dayton's square of storefronts and restaurants. The Scopes Trial Museum in the lower level walks through the case, and each July the town's festival re-stages the trial in the original courtroom.
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