LESTER LACKEY FUNERAL HOME

Square was where county’s business, government operations developed

By TOM SPIGOLON

tspigolon@covnews.com

The Covington Square is among the oldest settled parts of Newton County, dating to the early 1820s and the town’s beginnings as Newtonsboro.

The clerk of the Inferior Court paid surveyors to mark off lots of the new town in June 1822. The Georgia General Assembly incorporated the town of Covington on Dec. 8, 1822, and Newtonsboro ceased to exist.

A brick courthouse and jail were built in 1824 and were among buildings described in glowing terms by visitors in letters home.

The courthouse stood in the center of the Square but, by 1854, had become outgrown. The Inferior Court ordered it moved to the street between “the Hotel and J.S. Anderson’s store house leaving an (alley) of equal width on each side …”

The “Hotel” was the Flowers Hotel, which was one of the best known of many that operated in Covington at the time and

The Public Square as it appeared in 1901. Archives | The Covington News

Independently Owned and Operated by Lester Lackey, Jr. LesterLackey & Sons Funeral Home, Inc.

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