For over 150 years, Barnwell's rare vertical sundial has given the correct time of day to passersby. It is thought to be the only one of its kind remaining in America.
Legend has it that this is the only vertical sundial in the United States and though erected two years prior to standard time, it keeps within two minutes of that. Captain Joseph D. Allen, a wealthy Barnwell resident, and a lover of monuments, had the sundial made in Charleston. The original courthouse, built in Boiling Springs in 1789, was succeeded by several buildings on the present site. The present courthouse was built in 1878-79.