The Northampton County Museum has been effectively preserving and presenting the history and cultural heritage of this rural coastal plain county for more than a quarter-century. Highlights of the Museum in-clude the “Prehistoric to Present” exhibit, which lets visitors zip through a million years in only a few minutes; the circa 1900 “Country Store” exhibit, with a pot-bellied stove, a game of checkers, and shelves well-stocked with all manner of groceries and household staples; and the “Notable Northamptonians” exhibit, honoring many of the  county’s more famous sons and daughters.

Immediately outside the Museum is a one-room doctor’s office, circa 1840. Built specifically for the practice of medicine, this small structure was something of a novelty in its day, when most doctors simply used a room in their home to treat their patients.  Museum hours are 9-2 Wednesday and Saturday.  Admission is free.  252-534-2911 A walking tour of Jackson’s historic district includes the stately Northampton County Courthouse, built in 1858 and still in use today.  It is an excellent example of a Greek Revival, temple-form public building, one of the few of its type remaining in the state.  Also on the courthouse square is the brick Clerk’s and Register’s Office, constructed in 1831; the building gave shelter to local residents during the Nat Turner insurrection.  Facing the northwest corner of the square is the Bragg House, built in 1835 and home to Governor Thomas Bragg, who served one 4-year term as North Carolina’s governor from 1857-1860.