Euharlee, Georgia, And The Famous Covered Bridge

Euharlee is a small community just outside of Rome with a rich history that is well preserved. The community’s people are proud of its heritage and love telling all the history that saturates the community of Euharlee, Georgia, And The Famous Covered Bridge.

On a Friday afternoon after work, I convinced my husband to take pictures to go to the Euharlee Covered Bridge. After the twenty-minute drive on backroads from our house to Euharlee, I realized there is much more to the community than the bridge. There is a park with a playground, tennis courts, a basketball court, and a covered pavilion.

This house was the first building we saw when we parked at the covered bridge. It was sitting in the field and reminded me of my mother’s home when she was very young. The porch was very inviting, but I restrained myself.

The covered bridge was built in 1886. I had to change the picture to black and white for dramatic effect. Pictures don’t do it justice, with the creek flowing below and all the greenery surrounding this beautiful piece of history. When we got closer, we realized people were swimming in the water below the bridge. We crossed the bridge to the other side and saw a young girl and possibly her grandfather having a good time floating and talking. I couldn’t help but wonder how often this scenario had happened with other grandfathers, fathers, and their sons or daughters.

Inside the bridge, you can see that the structure is designed for strength. The bridge standing today is not the original bridge. The first collapsed in 1871, killing two people, and floodwaters destroyed a second bridge. The current bridge is high enough to avoid floodwaters and strong enough to support heavy loads.

To the left of the bridge were the ruins of the old Lowry Grist Mill. A fence around it kept us from getting a good picture of it.

Our next stop was at the Covered Bridge Store and Mercantile. Built in the 1860s, it was the main building in town and used for a general store, post office, saloon, and gathering place for politics and news. We went in hoping to get a drink and realized it was now a pizza parlor. They had a cooler of drinks which was precisely what we needed. With the location not being a store and not a sit-down restaurant, we purchased a water bottle and continued our adventure, but it smelled wonderful.

Next door is the Blacksmith Shop that was in operation until 1950. It is now a place to rent tubes and kayaks to go down the creek.

Just across the street was the Euharlee Courthouse, built sometime between 1880 and 1890. When the courthouse was no longer in use, it became rundown until 1974, when it was restored and the small jail adjacent.

This is the jail located outside the courthouse. It is called a calaboose which is another word for jail.

The Granary and Commissary is a large building that served as the farming tenant’s general store where they could finance goods until after the sale of crops, usually once a year.

The Traveler’s Well was a hand-dug public well by settlers for the travelers crossing the river. The covering was not constructed until the 1970s to preserve the area.

This little building is labeled as Iron Saltpeter Kettle. I’m not sure what it is or what its purpose was. It has a sign, “Civil War Kettle.”

This building is the former Commissary.

This was one of my favorite buildings. It says General Store, but it is tiny. It looks like a playhouse, but I’m sure it was used for dry goods.

It was a lot of fun and educational exploring Euharlee. It was like stepping back for a brief moment to a life that was not as materialistic as today. If history fascinates you, this is a quick trip outside Rome. If floating down the creek is your thing, they can provide that experience for you. Either way, Euharlee would be well worth the time it would take to explore it. For more information, click here: www.euharlee.com.

For more information on Bartow County, check out 10 Best Things To Do In Cartersville, Georgia.