- Arts & Culture
- Attractions
- Parks & Outdoor
Arts & Culture
Coweta County offers many cultural and leisure activities. These diverse and vibrant activities that feed the imagination, foster creativity, and provide important cultural exposure are the fibers that weave neighborhoods, towns, faith-based and ethnic groups together into the community tapestry that is Coweta County.
Whether you are sipping your favorite brew at Espresso Lane, strolling through the annual Spring Newnan-Coweta Art Association Art Show on the Courthouse Square, enjoying “Les Miserables” or the Martha Graham Dance Company at the Centre for the Performing Arts, or singing along with “Pirates of Penzance” at the Newnan Theatre Company, art and culture abound. Coweta County has served as a venue for sophisticated and rather rare exhibits such as the Lewis & Clark Expedition and the work of Madame Francois Gilot, Picasso’s protégé and the wife of Jonas Salk. For local artists, the Newnan-Coweta Art Association holds paint-ins every Tuesday, 3-5 p.m. at Harriet Alexander Art Center on Hospital Road in Newnan.
While almost everyone knows that country music stars Alan Jackson and Doug Stone are from Newnan, when you live here you’re more likely to catch a concert by The Straynotes, made up of Jackson’s mother, sisters, in-laws and friends. If you want to be part of a performance yourself, there are several different organizations throughout the county that promote and present the visual, musical and theatrical arts, not to mention the Coweta County School System’s fine arts offerings and the multitude of choral, orchestral, and even dance opportunities offered by the area’s many churches. You can even catch some special performances at the grassy amphitheater at Dunaway Gardens in Roscoe, situated amid a stunning, 25-acre floral rock garden.
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The Newnan Cultural Arts Commission Main Street Newnan The Charles Wadsworth Auditorium The City of Newnan has made efforts to preserve the 1930s-era Art Deco hall including retaining and enhancing the original remaining Art Deco elements such as light fixtures, a pair of murals flanking the stage, geometric wall treatments, and refurbished decorative seating. Other improvements include a new sound and lighting system, a new stage rigging system and construction of an interior technical balcony. A new color scheme using Art Deco colors was created and carpet installed. For reservations, call Newnan City Hall at (770) 254-2354. The Centre for Performing and Visual Arts Construction of The Centre for Performing and Visual Arts was funded by a SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) program along with an investment by the Coweta County School System. The Centre is available for use by all the citizens of the surrounding communities with priority being given to school system events. For information on upcoming events or rental, call (770) 254-ARTS (2787), or visit www.thecentreonline.net. Newnan Community Theatre Company Fayette-Coweta Family Theatre, Inc. (FCFT) FCFT maintains two professional ensembles that each present one production per season. A Company of Friends Educational Productions presents musical and educationally-based shows for school groups. Past ACOF shows include School House Rock Live, Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz and You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. The FCFT Professional Dinner/Dessert Theatre Ensemble presents well-known comedies and dramas complete with catered meals. Past Professional Dinner Theatre Ensemble productions have included On Golden Pond, Little Shop of Horrors, The Boys Next Door and Twelve Angry Men. FCFT also offers workshops, private acting lessons, production camps and production classes throughout the year. FCFT rehearsals and performances are held at the Fayette Family YMCA Black Box Theatre at 215 Huiet Rd., Fayetteville, during the months of August-May. FCFT events in June, July and early August are held at Christ’s Church at Whitewater on Hwy. 85 in Fayetteville. For more information, visit www.fcft.net or call (770) 599-0051 or (770) 251-7611. The Powers’ Festival Under a canopy of pines, visitors for more than a generation have found works of pottery, metal craft, sculpture, painting, fabric craft, glass, wood, etching, and much more. Demonstrations of crafts like spinning and blacksmithing entertain visitors. The diversity of art on display in the open air “gallery” gives the Powers’ Festival a reputation as fertile soil for harvesting unique art. Enjoy shopping every month at the Country Store during PowerShopping Days each third Tuesday and the following Saturday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sip cider, coffee, or tea, shop, visit, and walk the beautiful grounds to see more exhibits. All events at Powers are produced by five Newnan-Coweta non-profit organizations which make up Coweta Festivals, Inc. For more information, email cowetafestivals@charter.net, call (770) 253-2011 or visit www.newnan.com/powers. Raleigh Studios of Atlanta |
Arts Contacts
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Attractions
Be sure to experience all of the historic treasures of Coweta County! We have history, museums, gardens, and more! Begin your trip... at the Coweta County Convention and Visitors Bureau for a wealth of information and brochures to help you explore all that Coweta County has to offer. The Visitors Center is located in downtown Newnan in the 1904 Historic Courthouse. There’s a Gift Shop in the Visitor’s Center featuring local items...as well as maps of Coweta County ($1.00 each). Highways 29, 27, 16, 34 or 70 bring you into Coweta County where you can explore towns and cities.
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African-American Alliance Museum and Research Center 92 Farmer Street, Newnan The first Black Museum of Coweta County provides a repository for African-American artifacts and records, and serves as a genealogy workroom for African-American research. Adjacent to the Farmer Street Cemetery which may be the largest slave cemetery in the South. The Buggy Museum—Main Street, Senoia, GA 770-253-1018 The treasures this museum holds include antique buggies and cars, Coca-Cola memorabilia, tools, machinery, player pianos, and other curiosities. Open April thru October every 3rd weekend of the month. Chattahoochee Bend State Park Located in the Flat Rock area in Coweta’s northwest corner, the park property contains seven miles of river frontage. The Department of Natural Resources named the development Chattahoochee Bend State Park and the state budget that passed in 2006 included $7 million earmarked for the project. Park visitors have many activities to choose from, including boating, walking, biking, hiking, off-road bicycling, managed hunting, horseback riding, fishing and wildlife observation. Appropriately, part of the park is on land once owned by Chief William McIntosh, the half Creek Indian who was leader of the “Cowetas,” the namesake tribe for Coweta County. The Park officially opened on July 1, 2011. For more information, visit www.gastateparks.org/ChattahoocheeBend . Chattahoochee Flint Heritage Highway Chattahoochee River Coweta County 1904 Historic Courthouse Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 1904 Classic Revival Courthouse anchors the town square. Its dome rises 100 feet above street level, and a four-face clock in the tower chimes the hour. The dome is covered with copper to match the cornice, pediments and railings. The Coweta County Visitors Center is now located in the 1904 Historic Courthouse (enter on the east side of the square). Dunaway Gardens This stunning, 25-acre floral garden was salvaged from kudzu and wisteria only a few short years ago. Five descending terraces feature rock walls, slate patios, waterfalls, goldfish ponds, hanging gardens and a one-acre granite outcrop know as Little Stone Mountain. Erskine Caldwell Museum Author Erskine Caldwell, one of the best-selling writers of the early 20th century and a compatriot of Faulkner, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald and Salinger, was born in Moreland and carried this earliest sense of place into his literature. The museum includes books, movie art, U.S. and foreign versions of Caldwell's work, and a video presentation. Historic Courthouse Scenic Driving Tour Lewis Grizzard Museum Beloved Southern humorist Lewis Grizzard, sometimes described as the poor man's Faulkner, is memorialized in the town where he was raised. Memorabilia on exhibit in the museum includes his family photos and mementos, manuscripts, and the typewriter on which he built his career as a syndicated newspaper columnist and author. Please call for hours 30 College Street, Newnan Period clothing, treasured furniture, Indian artifacts, Civil War artifacts, including guns, swords, bayonets as well as early medical instruments, maps, photos and histories are just some of the exhibits in this charming museum housed in a former boys' private school dating from 1840. Oak Grove Plantation—B&B and Garden The Plantation is on the National Register of Historic Places. Circa 1835 - there are four themed gardens over 20 acres; the herb garden, pool garden, patience garden, and vegetable garden. Oak Hill Cemetery Powers Family Plantation Raleigh Studios of Atlanta Raleigh Studios of Atlanta chose Senoia because of its beautiful homes and scenery. Movies such as "Fried Green Tomatoes," "The War," and "Andersonville" have been filmed at Raleigh Studios. New Senoia Raceway Walking Tours |
Historical Markers Battle of Brown's Mill On July 27, 1864, Brig. Gen. E.M. McCook with 3,600 Federal cavalry began a raid to destroy railroads south of Atlanta and release 32,000 Federal prisoners at Andersonville. Three miles south of Newnan, on July 30th, Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler with 1,400 Confederate cavalry caught and routed the Federals, captured about 2,000 men, several ambulances, a full battery and released 500 Confederate prisoners. Here General Wheeler whipped the `pick` of the Federal cavalry and saved Newnan from capture and possible destruction. Birthplace of a Confederate Hero William Thomas Overby was born on this site in the 1840’s. He enlisted May 31, 1861, in Co. A, 7th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry, C.S.A. Later served with the 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, Mosby’s Rangers and participated in many raids that harassed the enemy. On Friday, Sept. 23, 1864, Overby and five other Rangers were Captured at Front Royal, Va. Overby was offered his freedom if he would reveal the hiding place of Mosby’s Rangers. This he refused to do, so he was hanged without a trial. He “lay down his life for his friends”. Confederate Dead Here are buried 268 Confederate soldiers, most of whom died of wounds or disease in the several Confederate hospitals located in Newnan. Some were killed in the battle fought south of here, July 30, 1864. Due to the efficiency of the local hospitals only two are “Unknown.” Most of these men were veterans of many hard fought battles. Every State in the Confederacy is represented in these burials. Also, buried here are two Revolutionary War soldiers, and one from the First World War. Confederate Hospitals In Newnan between 1862 and 1865 were seven Confederate hospitals -- Bragg, Buckner, `College Temple,` `Coweta House,` Foard, Gamble and Pinson`s Springs. More than 10,000 Confederate sick and wounded and about 200 Federal soldiers wounded in the Battle at Brown`s Mill were cared for in these hospitals and in private homes. The hospitals were directed and supervised by Samuel H. Stout, Army Medical Director Department of Tennessee. Loyal men and women of the county rendered valuable aid. Gravesite of Lt.(jg) Thomas E. Zellars - Namesake Grantville native Thomas E. Zellars (1898-1924) graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1920 and reported for duty aboard the USS Mississippi. As turret commander he rose to the rank of lieutenant. In 1924, an explosion and fire engulfed his turret. Zellars and 47 others were killed but not before he opened a flood valve on a burning powder train - an act that saved the ship and its crew. In 1944, Naval destroyer USS Zellars DD 777 was launched in Zellars’ honor. It went on to serve in both WW II and the Korean War receiving five battle stars. The ship was decommissioned in 1971. Erected by The Georgia Historical Society and the City of Grantville. Located at the Grantville City Cemetery. |
Parks & Outdoors
Once you’re settled into your new home, you won’t stay home for long because there’s so much to see and do here in Coweta County. Fun and fitness opportunities help make any community more livable and Coweta County certainly has its fair share of them, with more on the way. A conscientious county parks and recreation department is planning appropriate new facilities for the county’s growing population. Additionally, Coweta recently became home to the newest state park, preserving green space along the Chattahoochee River.
Coweta County is a haven for golfers, offering several public, private and semi-private courses. Equestrians also make their homes here thanks to Coweta’s acres of breeding and training facilities, highlighted by a new arena at the Coweta County Fairgrounds.
For those who just want to stroll leisurely through gorgeous scenery, there are numerous walking trails and, for a special treat, you can explore the paths through Dunaway Gardens, a 25-acre floral rock garden north of Newnan in the community of Roscoe.
Cyclists can bike throughout the county on quiet country roads disturbed only by the occasional vehicle. For example, a ride out Smokey Road, just south of Newnan, takes you past acres of rolling pasture and horse farms, wooded stretches filled with birdsong, and fields dotted with wildflowers.