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Other Information: 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. (For early views of this courthouse, see postcard
1, postcard
2, postcard
3, and postcard
4.)
County Courthouse Historical
Marker: Click
here
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).
County Seat:
The 1821 legislation creating Newton County authorized the
justices of the inferior court, when elected, to choose a central
site in the new county for designation as county seat. Election
of Newton County's first inferior court did not take place until
sometime in 1822. A settlement known as Brick House (so-called
because the first brick building in the area had been built here)
served briefly as the first county seat of Newton County. A one-room
log courthouse was built here in early 1822, and the county's
first court session was held here in April 1822. However, the
inferior court selected a new community ten miles to the west
known as Newtonsborough (soon renamed Covington) as county seat.
An 1822 Georgia map shows Covington as the county seat and only
named community in Newton County. In December 1822, Covington
was incorporated by the legislature. The town's name honored
Leonard
Covington (1768-1813), a U.S. Army officer who had served
at Fort Recovery in southwest Georgia in 1794 and was killed
during the War of 1812.
Maps
Size of County (Total
Area): 279.2 square miles
County Rank in Total
Area: 112th out of 159
Population:
Newton County
City of Covington
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