One of just five surviving antebellum frame courthouses in the state, the Tazewell [pronounced TAZ-well] example has also long been home to the Marion Lodge #14, Free & Accepted Masons, which was established in 1838. In his excellent and highly recommended The Courthouse & the Depot, Wilber W. Caldwell writes: “…The county’s first courthouse, a simple log structure, rose about 7 miles from Tazewell at the village of Horry shortly after the creation of the new county. In 1838, the county seat moved to Tazewell , and a second court building was erected there. That building burned in 1845, and this sturdy heart pine courthouse was begun the following year. Completed in 1848, the building hosted only one court session, before voters of Marion County elected to move the county seat to the village of Pea Ridge, which they renamed Buena Vista to commemorate the recent American victory in the Mexican American War…”

National Register of Historic Places