County of building: Carroll County
Location: of building: Adamson Square, 1st store front W. of Rome St.,, Carrollton
Built: 1892
Architectural Style: No Academic Style
Current Occupant: Horton's Books & Gifts
Phone: 770-832-8021
"Georgia's oldest bookstore, Horton's has been in business since 1891. Antique shelves and display units showcase new books, gift items, and periodicals. Store cats Mayah, Poe, and Dante are always on hand to help customers choose just the right book or gift." ~ Horton's
""Other than
this outlier, the earliest group of
commercial buildings in the
Downtown District date to the
1880s and 1890s, including ... Horton’s Book Store at 410 Adamson Square
(GNAHRGIS 250938). Famous for its title as Georgia’s oldest bookstore, Horton’s Books and Gifts
has been in continuous operation since 1891." ~ Historical Resources Survey
"At the start of the new year, Georgia’s oldest bookstore turned 125. Horton’s Books and Gifts is in Carrollton, west of Atlanta. Its founder, N. A. Horton, was an undertaker who, in 1891, decided to sell schoolbooks in his other business—which is to say, inside a funeral parlor. Although the store moved several times in its early days, it’s returned a long while ago to that original location—and, yes, it’s said to be haunted.
"In the course of its long history, Horton’s has sold menswear, bridal apparel, and china, and while the mortuary component is defunct (or at least not well advertised), the store still has plenty of irons in the fire. Today, it sells notions and new books; it sources old books and offers book repair; it makes stationary; it notarizes. As one might hope, there’s a café and three on-site cats.
"In case you were wondering, by the way, the nation’s oldest bookstore is Moravian Books, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The world record-holder, meanwhile, is probably Lisbon’s Bertrand, at 250-plus years. This is the sort of case in which it’s futile for America to compete with the Old World—but I hope we can claim the honor of having far more funeral parlor/bookstore hybrids." ~ The Paris Review, By Sadie Stein January 5, 2016