Contents - Index - Go Forward a Page

The Brick Store



Photographs taken 27-Nov-2008


You can read the plaques to the left and right sides of the front door by clicking on them.

Here is another photograph that shows how close to US HWY 278 the Brick Store is positioned.

This is the back of the Brick Store and here is a photograph taken from the front steps.


Georgia's Newton County was created from Henry, Jasper, and  Walton counties on December 24, 1821 by an act of the Georgia General Assembly. 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).

When Newton County was formed, the first white settlers settled in east Newton County (Winton) in 1818. Located in eastern Newton County, it is one of the oldest settlements in Newton county. The Brick Store was built in 1821 and the community around the Brick Store was also know as Sun Up and Mt. Pleasent but the area is more commonly referred to as Brick Store. This community was also the site of several churches and a school. One of the first telephones was installed in  the Brick Store area in 1897 by G.C. and H.B. Adams.

The focal point of daily activity for the newly formed county occurred at the Brick Store,(so-called because it was the first brick building in the area) and it served briefly as the first county seat of Newton County. The building also served as a general store, a stage coach stop, post office, school house, courtroom, jail  and Martin Kolb's residence. The first session of Newton County Superior Court was held at the Brick Store.

The Superior Court selected a new community ten miles to the west known as Newtonsborough (renamed Covington) as the county seat. The town was named after 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.

Until a courthouse could be built in Covington, the legislation provided that elections and court sessions be held at the house of Martin Robb. In the book Courthouses in Georgia, the authors say that a one room log courthouse was built near the Brick House (ten miles east of Covington) in 1822 at the cost of $62¹ .

The Brick Store building and property are owned by the Trustees of the Newton County Historical Society.

Two plaques have been placed to the left and right of the front door as show in the above photograph. You can click on the plaques or use the left and right links.

To the left and rear of the Brick Store is a large granite tablet with a plaque that was placed by the Sargent Newton Chapter of The Daughters of the American Revolution in Covington.

The Brick store is located about .30 miles east of the intersection of Ga Hwy 11 and US Hwy 278 on the north side of Hwy 278 near the "Y" intersection of Old Social Circle Road and US Hwy 278.

There is more detail about the Brick Store in the Summary Of Proposed National Register/Georgia Register Nomination.

On April 9, 2009  The Brick Store  was listed in the National register.

Sources
Revisions Last Revision 02-January-2010.

¹ I do not know how the authors calculated this USD amount as of this revision.