Old Courthouse Museum

Restored to its 1930s appearance, our courtroom is the model for Harper Lee’s fictional courtroom settings in To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s now one of the most recognized courtrooms in America because of the popular film version of the book. Although the movie was not filmed here, the set designer came to Monroeville to measure, photograph and draw the courtroom before recreating it on a Hollywood sound stage. Today, fans of the classic novel come to the courthouse from all over the world because it is the most tangible connection to the book’s fictionalMaycomb. Visitors are free to move throughout the courtroom, including the balcony, witness chair, judge’s bench and tables used by the prosecutor and defense attorney. Throughout her childhood, Harper Lee often sat in the balcony as she watched her father practice law in this very room. The museum houses three permanent exhibits: Old Courthouse: Heart of the Community, Truman Capote: A Childhood in Monroeville, and Harper Lee: In Her Own Words. Each April and May, the courtroom is the setting for the second act of the Mockingbird Players’ acclaimed production of To Kill a Mockingbird.