Roads, landmarks named for modern, past leaders

By TOM SPIGOLON

tspigolon@covnews.com

Newton County has a number of roads, sections of highways and landmarks named for individuals who have had hands in the area’s development.

Here are a few of them: TURNER LAKE PARK

Turner Lake Park is a county-owned recreation complex that includes 158 acres and a 26-acre lake on Covington’s west side.

It is named for Nat S. Turner, who was a major cotton broker, owner of Covington Mills and a co-founder of the Bank of Covington — now Truist Bank.

Turner built a cabin on what is now Turner Lake Park in 1929 and bought the 158 acres from the Hendricks family. Members of his family created the 26acre lake sometime thereafter, said his great-grandson, Frank Turner Jr.

“After my grandmother died, the consensus in the family was to sell it to the county for a park rather than see it developed,” he said.

The county government bought the land and lake with money from a 1995 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).

Turner Lake Park now includes a 34,000-square-foot, multi-use building housing a meeting room, full-service senior center, gymnasium, and offices for the county’s Senior Services and Parks & Recreation department offices.

It also includes four lighted softball fields and support buildings, a youth football and cheerleading field, covered pavilion, picnic area, three-mile walking trail, tot lot and playground, and two batting cages. LAKE VARNER

ROY & AARON VARNER HIGHWAY

The county’s main drinking water source in northeast Newton is named in

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John R. Williams was the owner of Williams Brothers Lumber Co., which opened in 1922 and operated 10 stores in Metro Atlanta before it sold to Home Depot in 2005.

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Turner Lake Park is a county-owned recreation complex that includes 158 acres and a 26-acre lake on Covington’s west side.

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honor of the late Roy Varner, who served as chairman of the Newton County Board of Commissioners from 1976-1992.

Varner is credited with being instrumental in creating the lake as a reliable drinking water source for the county. It was funded with proceeds of the 1986 SPLOST.

He also helped secure the right of way for the Covington Bypass Road; and helped expand the county fire department, jail and animal control center, according to a 2010 General Assembly resolution in his honor.

Roy Varner’s son, Aaron Varner, served as Board of Commissioners chairman from 2000-2008.

The Georgia General Assembly in 2010 designated a section of Georgia Hwy. 36 from Henderson Mill Road to Georgia Hwy. 212 as Roy and Aaron Varner Highway.

Aaron’s contributions included building the Newton County Administration Building on the former site of a Kroger grocery store; promoting the construction of Georgia Perimeter College, now Georgia State University’s Newton campus, near Social Circle; and building five fire stations, the resolution stated.

JACK & DAVIS MORGAN MEMORIAL HIGHWAY

The Georgia General Assembly in 2009 honored the late Jack Hays Morgan Sr. and Davis Morgan, who both served as Board of Commissioners chairmen.

The Assembly designated a section of U.S. Hwy. 278 between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Georgia Hwy. 142 as the Jack and Davis Morgan Memorial Highway.

Jack Hays Morgan Sr. died in 2009 at age 89. He is credited with being part of the post-War World II development of Newton County when he opened the county’s first pulpwood yard, Morgan Timber Co., and later founded the area’s first grading and paving services in Morgan Concrete Co.

He served as Board of Commissioners chairman from 1968 to 1976 and oversaw the creation of the county’s first ambulance service, and other services. Jack Morgan also served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives in the 1960s.

His son, Davis Morgan, was a businessman and served as county chairman from 1992 to 2000. He is credited with spearheading several projects including the Turner Lake complex, the Newton County Library, the Law Enforcement Center, the Judicial Center and Stanton Springs technology park. He died in 2004 at the age of 49.

Davis Morgan’s widow, Kathy Morgan, was elected the first female county chairman in 2008 and served until 2012 — meaning either Varners or Morgans chaired the Board of Commissioners for 44 consecutive years. JOHN R. WILLIAMS HIGHWAY

Part of Georgia Hwy. 142 between I-20 and U.S. Hwy. 278 later was named in honor of a major player in Metro Atlanta’s home construction boom of the 1990s.

Before Home Depot and Lowe’s, Williams Brothers Lumber Co. was among the leading building material suppliers in the area.

John R. Williams was the owner of Williams Brothers Lumber Co., which opened in 1922 and operated 10 stores in Metro

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Atlanta before it sold to Home Depot in 2005.

Both John and brother Bob lived in Newton County and were instrumental in operation of First National Bank of Newton County, now Synovus.

John Williams helped convince GDOT to build the Alcovy Road interchange with I-20 in the late 1960s after GDOT opened I-20 with only two Covington exits. DOWNTOWN COVINGTON STREETS

The Covington City Council in 1889 adopted the names of Brown, Church, Clark, College, Conyers, Corley, East, Elm, Floyd, Hendrick, Lee, Monticello, Pace, Railroad, Reynolds, South, Spring, Stone Mountain, Usher, Washington and West streets. Only Railroad Street was renamed and is now Emory Street.

Floyd Street was named for Judge John Julius Floyd, who built a house on the street.

Dearing Street was named for Dr. John J. Dearing, who owned a large plantation between Covington and the Alcovy River. Dearing operated a mercantile business in downtown Covington for many years after working as a physician. CROWELL ROAD

Crowell Road reportedly was named for the late county recreation department leader B.C. Crowell, who was hired as Porterdale athletic director in 1947 and lived in a house at the corner of Crowell and Brown Bridge roads.

Crowell Road runs between Georgia Hwy. 81 in Porterdale and I-20. It is part of a continuous loop road that includes Georgia Hwy. 142, Industrial Park Boulevard, John R. Williams Highway, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Covington Bypass.

FORREST “PREACHER” SAWYER MEMORIAL PARKWAY

The Georgia General Assembly named this section of Georgia Hwy. 81 (Washington Street) in Covington from Monticello Street to the Porterdale city limits for Forrest “Preacher” Sawyer Sr., who was a founding member of the Newton County Voters League and an active member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and helped in the development of the Washington Street Community Center. He served as a Covington City Council member from 1981 to 1993. HOMER SHARP STADIUM

The athletic stadium shared by the county’s three public high schools off Mill Street was built in 1956 and named for Homer Sharp, the first principal of Newton County High School from its formation in 1949 until 1971. Sharp helped lead the campaign for its construction.

DENNY DOBBS PARK

This 15-acre county park is on Georgia Hwy. 212, across from Porter Memorial Library, and includes such amenities as a splash pad, pavilion and skate park.

It opened in 2010 and is named for Denny Dobbs, who represented Newton County in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1980 to 1998. CHARLIE ELLIOTT WILDLIFE CENTER

The 6,400-acre Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center off Georgia Hwy. 11 south of Mansfield is managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. It is named for Covington resident Charles Newton Elliott who served as the first director of Georgia State Parks in 1937, commissioner of the state Department of Natural Resources in 1938 and the first director of the Game and Fish Commission (now known as the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division) in 1943.

PORTER MEMORIAL LIBRARY:

The Newton County library’s name dates to 1944 when it opened in a basement room of the Historic Courthouse in Covington. It later operated in the front rooms of the Covington Gym on Conyers Street until 1978 when it moved to a former post office building with the help of grants from James Hyde Porter fund. It was renamed for Porter, a philanthropist who owned and operated Bibb Manufacturing Co. for decades in Porterdale — a town named for his father, Oliver Porter.

The current library was built in 2011 on Georgia Hwy. 212 in west Newton.

JUDGE HORACE J. JOHNSON JR. JUDICIAL CENTER

Superior Court Judge Horace J. Johnson served as a judge in the Alcovy Judicial Circuit from 2002 until his death from complications of COVID in July 2020.

Johnson grew up in the Sand Hill community of Newton County, attended Washington Street School and was among the first Black students to integrate Ficquett Elementary School. He graduated from Emory University after attending Oxford College, and earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Georgia Law School. Gov. Roy Barnes appointed Johnson as Newton County’s first Black Superior Court judge in 2002.