Hello Friends. There are several exciting events coming up I wanted to make sure you were aware of: Covered Bridge Historical Lecture Bridge Closure for Repairs Annual Tree Planting Community Serivce Smyrna’s 150th Birthday Celebration Historic Ruff Cemetery Cleanup Covered…
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This weekend we celebrate the Fourth of July, our country’s independence. Readers of this blog will also know that it is the 158th anniversary of the Battle of Ruff’s Mill, fought along Concord Road near the Concord Covered Bridge in…
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The LAMAR Institute from Savannah has completed their research work into the July 1864 Battle of Ruff’s Mill. A lot of the fighting took place inside the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District, and the Friends organization has been happy to…
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In the spring of 1976, when I was turning five years old, my family bought an old home-place just outside the city limits of Smyrna, Georgia. The house was overgrown and in need of quite a bit of work, but…
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This Sunday, November 7th at 3PM the Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District will hold their annual meeting. Join us online for a fascinating historical tour through some of Smyrna’s treasures. Some highlights of this meeting: Jennie Eldrige,…
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Join your neighbors and friends Saturday Morning, November 6th at 10 AM to help maintain the Ruff Family Cemetery. Historic cemeteries in Cobb County are preserved by volunteer organizations, and since 2019 the The Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge…
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Join us Saturday, October 9 at 10AM: Tree Planting at Concord Road Trailhead, Silver Comet Trail Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District, along with Cobb Parks, will be having our fourth annual Tree Planting this Saturday. This year…
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Today on the 4th of July we celebrate our nation’s independence from Britain. It is also the anniversary of the final assault of the Battle of Ruff’s Mill, fought along Concord Road in 1864, the culmination of several skirmishes over…
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While many of us may be glad to leave 2020 behind, I wanted to take a minute to celebrate some of our community’s accomplishments this past year. We got quite a number of our goals completed despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic. Here are a few of the highlights!
If you are interested in historic cemeteries, preservation, local history, or just being outdoors, consider participating in the upcoming Cemetery Preservation Workshop at the historic Ruff Family Cemetery. As you may remember, our Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge group…
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It is Halloween Night in the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District, and what could be more appropriate tonight than a 100-year old ghost story set right here in the place that used to be known as “Concord”. This is a…
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156 years ago today, July 3rd, 1864, Sherman’s army fought through the woods in our area of Cobb County, intent on destroying Johnston’s army and capturing Atlanta, the manufacturing base of the Confederacy. Today’s newsletter contains Captain Edward B. Moore’s…
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The Smyrna Public Library hosts a series of monthly lectures the first Sunday of each month. May’s lecture will be given online by Philip Ivester on the obscure history of the iconic Concord Covered Bridge. Are you curious about its…
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Cobb County Commissioners are hearing public comments on proposed changes to the County Code at the next two Board of Commissioners meetings. If you are receiving this newsletter, it is probably because you are interested in Cobb County Parks, Heritage…
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The LAMAR Institute invites you to participate in an exciting pursuit to locate the 1864 Battle of Ruff’s Mill and to identify and interpret its components across the landscape. The project, funded by a grant from the American Battlefield Protection…
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The Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District has been working with the LAMAR Institute out of Savannah on a proposal to research the Civil War battles fought around the Historic District in July of 1864. I am pleased…
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Tonight at 6 PM, October 14th, the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) is hearing another application for a Certificate of Appropriateness in the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District. You may remember this controversial issue from a couple of years ago. If…
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The fourth of July is upon us again! As we celebrate our Nation’s origins, and the dusk settles in, fireflies come out, everyone is in a celebratory mood, and the sound of booming fireworks begin all around us, it is…
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The Friends of the Concord Covered Bridge invite you to attend a special Annual Meeting of the organization on Sunday, May 19, 2019 at 3:00 PM. It will be at WellStar Vinings Health Park Chattahoochee Community Room at 4441 Atlanta…
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If you’ve been on a walk recently back into the woods around the Concord Woolen Mill ruins, you’ve surely noticed some blooms emerging after a long winter. The 100-acre park around the Silver Comet trail head is a great place…
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Last Year we shared a poem about Covered Bridges in the snow. This year’s Christmas poem comes from Cobb County’s Facebook Page. Merry Christmas! An Ode to #13, a Covered Bridge Holiday Poem; ‘Twas the night before Christmas, near the…
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The Georgia Partnership for Transportation Quality has selected the Concord Covered Bridge Rehabilitation Project as one of its prestigious winners, recognizing Cobb County DOT and consultant Arcadis for a challenging task done well. The Covered Bridge project, one of three…
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Previously, I mentioned my recent visit to the National Archives researching Cobb County history. Today I want to share another discovery from this trip: 1930s Aerial Photography! The oldest Cobb County aerial photography I have found is not from the…
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Last year in October, I posted about Sherman’s return to Ruff’s Mill three months after the 1864 battle there. Confederate General Hood had crossed the Chattahoochee and was determined to attack Sherman from behind, disrupting his supplies and communications, jeopardizing…
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I have always been fascinated with maps. Old maps; unfamiliar maps; maps that hold lost information; maps that show secret buried treasures; maps that walk you through dark unknown caves, etc…. The best birthday party I ever attended I was…
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We have all heard quite a bit about “Fake News” lately–probably much more than we really want to. But I think it will be interesting to look at a little incident from the 1870s that happened at the Concord Woolen…
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The day before the Battle of Ruff’s Mill was fought, the 50th Ohio Volunteer Infantry was sent out on a reconnaissance along Nickajack creek to ascertain details of the position of Confederates in southern Cobb County. The Union Army was…
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The Silver Comet Trail has been enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of cyclists and joggers each year since its completion in the late 1990s. Most people know the trail was built on an abandoned railroad track, but not everyone knows…
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As a follow-up from this post from back in December, an application has been made to develop a modern residence in the center of the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District. The applicant has re-submitted plans to the Historic Preservation Commission,…
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The Historic Concord Covered Bridge has a restricted height clearance of 7 feet. Although this limitation is well posted on approaches to the bridge, the occasional over-height driver inevitably ignores these warning signs and gets stuck in the protection beams…
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