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30 It is not unusual for people to weep when walking for the first time into the 113-year- old oval courtroom of the Monroe County Courthouse. They see the wooden pews, jury boxes, witness stand and judge's bench pedestal as the place Tom Robinson was unjustly convicted in "To Kill A Mockingbird." It becomes even more realistic when Robert Malone, as Robinson, and other volunteer actors portray the characters from Harper Lee's book inside the Monroeville landmark. "They will step in here and tears will start streaming down their faces," says Nathan Carter, director of sites and operations. "We get a lot of young lawyers coming in who were inspired by Atticus Finch." Visitors from around the world pay $5 to tour the oddly shaped two-story building designed by Andrew J. Bryan with a soaring four-clock tower. The guest book in a recent week has signatures from Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Arizona, California, Colorado, Virginia, Canada, England and Alabama. Two visitors from Scotland remark about the clean bathrooms. A couple from Georgia say they stopped on their way to San Diego to "mark this one off our bucket list." Many people arrive believing the courthouse is where Gregory Peck was filmed portraying Finch in the 1962 movie that earned him the Academy Award as Best Actor. After all, Lee was pictured on the cover of Life magazine sitting in the balcony where she grew up watching her father, attorney A.C. Lee, in action. People often take selfies from the same perspective beneath the decorative pressed tin ceiling lined by 6-inch-tall egg-and-dart wood cornices. "Some visitors insist it was filmed here," Carter says. "We explain it was replicated in Hollywood but not filmed here, for various reasons. It was still an active courtroom until 1963. Sometimes we can't convince people, so we just won't argue with them. This is kind of a sacred space for many people." CELEBRATED COURTHOUSE By Chuck Chandler Photography by Meg McKinney MONROE COUNTY'S AMONG MOST FAMOUS IN WORLD Building is on the National Register of Historic Places.