Newton County Courthouse-Covington, Georgia
Posted by: 
Sprinterman
N 33° 35.818 W 083° 51.612
17S E 234582 N 3721137
Located in downtown Covington, Georgia on Clarke Street
Waymark Code: WM6Y6Z
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 08/04/2009
Views: 6
The Dec. 1821 legislation creating Newton County authorized the county's first inferior court to purchase up to 202.5 acres for locating a courthouse and jail and laying out town lots, the sale of which would go toward the expense of erecting public buildings. Until a courthouse could be built, the legislation provided that elections and court sessions be held at the house of Martin Robb. Jordan and Puster report that a one-room log courtroom was built at Brick House (ten miles east of present-day Covington) in 1822 at a total price of $62. A two-room log courtroom was built in Covington -- probably in 1822 or 1823. Possibly, this structure was replaced by a more substantial courthouse. In any event, the building serving as courthouse burned on the final day of 1883. The current courthouse was built on the site of its predecessor in 1884.
County History: Newton County was created from Henry, Jasper, and Walton counties on Dec. 24, 1821 by an act of the General Assembly (Ga. Laws 1821, p. 38). Georgia's 53rd county was named for Revolutionary War hero Sgt. John Newton (1755-1780). The area that became Newton County originally was Creek Indian lands ceded by the Treaty of Fort Wilkinson (1802), Treaty of the Creek Agency (1818), and Treaty of Indian Springs (1821).
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