When colonial Virginia's judicial system was first being developed, it modeled itself after similar institutions in England, where courts regularly sat in a variety of buildings: Nothing resembling a shire courthouse really existed, so there was no pattern to imitate. Virginia's first county courts met in private residences, or in purpose-built log cabins that weren't made to last.
It wasn't until Virginia's capital was moved to Williamsburg at the end of the 17th century, and the subsequent construction of the College of William and Mary, that there was anything like governmental permanence in Virginia...and it had a
look. The first public building with an arcaded porch in Virginia was the Wren Building at William and Mary (1700), which effect was so pleasing that the Williamsburg Courthouse was made in 1703 with the same arcaded front. Several Virginia courthouses were designed in a similar manner:
King William, Hanover and Isle of Wight's courthouses share that design.
Virginia has several
Burned Record Counties, mostly in the eastern part of the state. These counties' court records were destroyed either by accidental fire or intentional jerkitude, the latter of which primarily occurred during the Civil War. Elizabeth City County, one of Virginia's original Shires, had its records destroyed during the Revolutionary War, War of 1812
and Civil War. In some cases, counties lost their courthouses along with their records.