On the outskirts of town, a sign is all that’s left of the Town & Country Motel, where apparently the owner was robbed and murdered in 1975. While taking the photo, two men pulled over and jokingly offered to sell me the sign.
Bell Rental in downtown Rockmart. Wish I knew more about the bipartisan seating arrangements.
Locally quarried slate was used for several historic downtown buildings, including the First Presbyterian Church.
Mill Walk, the former main street of Rex, a mill village that has existed as far back as the 1830s. The town and its one-lane bridge were bypassed by a new road in the late 2000s, and are now hidden in plain sight.
In 1937, Rex Mill was purchased by state senator, Georgia Tech planning grad, and entrepreneur Walter C. Estes. It’s rumored that the mill - and therefore the town that Estes grew - were named for a dog.
A “See Rock City” barn, the handiwork of “barnyard Rembrandt” Clark Byers, who painted over 900 barns in 19 states to advertise the tourist attraction. The ads went up until 1965 when they were banned by the Federal Highway Beautification Act.