The courthouse fence was likely built as part of the courthouse construction before the War Between the States began in 1861, and Caswell Court minutes show it was in place before 1866, when H.F. Brandon was given charge of the enclosed courthouse grounds and allowed to keep the grass and hay he produced there as payment for maintaining the public grounds. According to Edwin S. Yarbrough, the first steel fence around the courthouse was made and installed by Yarbrough's Foundry, an iron-working enterprise established by the Yarbrough family as their operations expanded in Caswell County during the early 1800s. After about forty years of prosperity, the family's fortunes declined in the 1890s and production ceased around 1903, but the courthouse fence remained one of the foundry's more enduring relics. On August 2, 1941, Caswell County gave J.T. Carer and Son, Inc., of Danville, Virginia, a contract for $1,230 to repair, restore, and install the fence, which explains why it was removed, though its later fate is unknown. A front gate shown on the A.D. 2000 Courthouse Calendar was associated with a locally cherished courthouse custom from the post-Depression years, when officials and others passing uneventful hours at court played cards such as set-back and rook until county commissioners ordered the sheriff to stop all card playing inside the courthouse and on the courthouse lawn, drawing enough attention for LIFE magazine to publish an illustrated report of the last game. In 1998, Caswell County Commissioners authorized a $1.8 million restoration of the historic courthouse for renewed use as county offices, and a major feature was reproduction of the original fence. That fence restoration was funded entirely by citizens and friends of Caswell County through the Leadership Caswell County Alumni Association Fence Project and the Fence Committee of the Caswell County Historical Association, while Bud and Shelly Swann, blacksmith artisans from Caswell County, donated their time and skill to fabricate and install the reproduced fence.