Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee

While a quiet courthouse today, the Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee was ground zero for one of the most contentious and publicized court cases in American history: The Scopes Monkey Trial. Held in July 1925, the trial pitted the wits of famed attorney Clarence Darrow who defended John Scopes – a teacher accused of teaching evolution in a public school – and presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, who aided the prosecution. The courthouse itself was built in 1891 in the Romanesque Revival-Italian Villa style, according to the National Register of Historic Places.