Submitted by Sammy Smith (sammy@thesga.org)

If you have a choice, and are driving across Georgia, try to avoid the main highways and interstates, and then look for interesting features across the landscape, including old buildings and the remains of abandoned road grades.

Recently, while driving around between Madison and Atlanta on a beautiful, sunny late fall day, we spotted this somewhat tattered wooden building on a hill next to Bostwick Road in northern Newton County, north of Covington.

A sign by the road says the Gum Creek Courthouse was built about 1888.

Even though buildings in North America aren’t very old compared to some you can find in Europe and Asia, this building is over a century old, which is longer than most of us can expect to live.

Where to find it

Click above to go to a larger Google interactive map of the area.

Posted online on Friday, March 6th, 2009