Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
Georgia · Atlanta Metro East · #596
Newton County, Georgia
East of Atlanta along I-20, Newton County's Covington has become one of the most-filmed locations in America - the "Hollywood of the South" in miniature, where "The Vampire Diaries," "In the Heat of the Night," and dozens of other productions have used the county's antebellum courthouse square and Georgian architecture as the quintessential American small town.
Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: Newton County Sheriff’s Office – 15151 Alcovy Road NE, Covington, GA 30014 | (678) 625-1403; Sheriff Ezell Brown, whose office traces to 1822. The office offers a custom smartphone app for road closures, incidents, missing persons, and other public safety updates. Additional locations: 3612 Salem Road, Covington, GA and 5 West 1st Street, Mansfield, GA.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-20 and US-278 serve Covington, the county seat and largest city, home to Covington Municipal Airport, part of the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metropolitan area, roughly 35 miles east of Atlanta.
Notes: Newton County was created December 24, 1821, named for Sergeant John Newton, a Revolutionary War soldier who served under General Francis Marion and was a close friend of Sergeant William Jasper, for whom neighboring Jasper County is named. Covington, incorporated as county seat in 1821, is named for Brigadier General and Congressman Leonard Covington, a hero of the War of 1812. During the Civil War, Newton County raised the Lamar Infantry, part of Cobb’s Legion. Newton County genuinely produced one of Georgia’s earliest public school transportation systems in the early 1900s, developed by County School Commissioner G.C. Adams, who went on to found the state’s first 4-H Club, then known as the Newton County Boys Corn Club.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Newton County Courthouse – Courthouse Square, Covington, GA (built 1884, Second Empire, architects Bruce & Morgan and James Smith; National Register of Historic Places since 1980), regarded by some as one of Georgia’s most striking courthouses; a separate 1964 courthouse building also serves the county.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Newton County Veterans Services – confirm current contact via newtoncountyga.gov.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Newton County Public Library System (Covington) – confirm current addresses/phones via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Emory University’s Oxford College, chartered in 1836 as the Methodist “Emory at Oxford” and named for Bishop John Emory, is located in Newton County near Covington. The county holds 13 properties on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Covington Historic District, the Covington Mills and Mill Village Historic District, the Floyd Street Historic District, and the historic Brick Store and Burge Club. Newton County’s five wholly contained municipalities – Covington, Porterdale, Mansfield, Newborn, and Oxford – each carry distinct small-town character, complemented by tree-lined streets and antebellum architecture.
Notes: Confirm current parks and recreation facilities via newtoncountyga.gov.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Newton County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via newtoncountyga.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via newtoncountyga.gov; Newton County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Newton County Solid Waste / Planning & Zoning – confirm current contact via newtoncountyga.gov.
NOTES: Newton County is the one-hundred-and-ninth county completed in Georgia’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The county’s genuine role in founding Georgia’s first 4-H Club and its connection to Emory University’s Oxford College are among the standout local facts covered in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Newton County
Covington has an extraordinary claim for a Georgia county seat of 15,000 people: its historic downtown courthouse square has been used as a film and television production location so frequently that the town has developed genuine film industry infrastructure and a local economy partially built on production services. “The Vampire Diaries” (set there as Mystic Falls, Virginia), “In the Heat of the Night,” “Remember the Titans,” and dozens of feature films have used Covington’s antebellum courthouse and Greek Revival commercial buildings to represent a quintessential American small town. The Georgia Film Academy has a presence there.
Newton County’s broader growth story is Atlanta suburban expansion along I-20 – the county has more than doubled in population since 2000 as families sought lower housing costs east of DeKalb and Rockdale counties. Covington has developed commercial infrastructure to serve this population, and the county’s school system has kept pace with enrollment growth reasonably well. Georgia Power’s Plant Branch (coal) and Georgia Transmission Corporation have facilities in the county. Oxford College of Emory University in Oxford gives the county a small but selective liberal arts presence.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Georgia assesses property at 40% of fair market value. Property owners have 45 days from the notice of assessment to appeal to the Board of Assessors. Georgia offers school tax exemptions for seniors 62 and older. Georgia has no estate or inheritance tax.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
SENIOR SERVICES
Atlanta Regional Commission – Area Agency on Aging
229 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: (404) 463-3100
Senior transportation, Meals on Wheels, caregiver support, and long-term care counseling for Newton County residents.
Senior Services
Atlanta Regional Commission – Area Agency on Aging
229 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: (404) 463-3100
Senior transportation, Meals on Wheels, caregiver support, and long-term care counseling for Newton County residents.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK OF SUPERIOR COURT (Records, Marriage Licenses)
1124 Clark St., Covington, GA 30014
(770) 784-2035
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Probate Court of Newton County (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
East Georgia Genealogical Society (Winder) serves Newton among its 29-county region.
Local societies
East Georgia Genealogical Society (see above) is the primary regional resource; no dedicated Newton-County-only genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Probate Court of Newton County 1132 Usher Street, Room 148, Covington, GA 30014 Judge: Hon. Henry A. Baker. Newton County is part of the Atlanta metro area.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Georgia is NOT a Uniform Probate Code state and doesn’t use a simple dollar-threshold “small estate affidavit” like many states. Instead it offers several distinct shortcuts, each suited to a different situation:
Banking Affidavit – for intestate estates with less than $15,000 in bank deposits and no other assets requiring administration. No court filing needed at all.
No Administration Necessary (Standard Form 9) – available when all heirs agree on how to divide the property and there are no debts (or all creditors consent). Can transfer real estate without full administration, but requires unanimous heir agreement – any disagreement forces the estate into formal probate.
Year’s Support (Standard Form 10, O.C.G.A. Chapter 53-3) – a distinctively Georgia protection: the surviving spouse and minor children can petition for property sufficient to maintain their standard of living for 12 months from the date of death. This takes priority over virtually all creditor claims and even most specific bequests in the will. Must be filed within 24 months of death. No bond, no inventory filing, no creditor claims period required – the fastest and simplest path when it applies.
Formal Administration – Petition to Probate Will (Common Form or Solemn Form) or Petition for Letters of Administration, when none of the above shortcuts fit.
COMMON FORM VS. SOLEMN FORM (a distinctively Georgia choice)
Common Form: the executor files the will with supporting evidence and the court admits it without notifying all heirs – faster and cheaper, but leaves a 4-year window during which interested parties can challenge the will.
Solemn Form (Standard Form 5): requires notice to all heirs; once granted, it’s final and binding much sooner, closing off future challenges.
If formal administration is needed
File the appropriate petition with the Newton County Probate Court – Petition to Probate Will (Common or Solemn Form) if there’s a will, or Petition for Letters of Administration if not.
The court issues a citation, published in the county’s legal organ once a week for four weeks (O.C.G.A. § 53-5-2), giving interested parties a chance to object.
After the publication period, attend the hearing for appointment as personal representative.
Once appointed, the court issues Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (without one).
Send certified copies of the death certificate and Letters to all banks, brokerages, insurers, and retirement custodians; request date-of-death valuations and begin marshaling assets.
Obtain an EIN via IRS Form SS-4 and open an estate checking account.
Prepare an inventory of assets with date-of-death fair market values; the court may require this under O.C.G.A. § 53-7-30.
Pay debts and expenses in Georgia’s priority order (see below), then distribute remaining assets per the will or intestacy law.
What it costs
No Georgia state estate tax or inheritance tax.
Court filing fees typically range $100–$300 depending on the county.
Certified copies of Letters typically cost around $10 each.
Indigent petitioners may file an Affidavit of Indigency to request a fee waiver.
E-filing is available and encouraged statewide through platforms like PeachCourt or Odyssey eFileGA.
DEBT PRIORITY ORDER IF THE ESTATE CAN’T PAY EVERYTHING (O.C.G.A. §§ 53-3-1, 53-7-40)
Year’s Support for surviving spouse and minor children under 18.
Funeral expenses.
Costs of probate administration.
Expenses of the decedent’s last illness.
Taxes.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
15151 Alcovy Rd., Covington, GA 30014
(770) 786-3535
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS / VOTER REGISTRATION
1113 Usher St., Covington, GA 30014
(770) 784-2055
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
GA Dept of Public Health — Gwinnett, Newton, Rockdale
(770) 787-5647
GA DFCS — Newton
(678) 625-5100
GA Medicaid
(800) 869-1150
Piedmont Newton Hospital
piedmont.org/newton (Covington)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Newton County Health Department – confirm current contact via newtoncountyga.gov.
Editorial independence: CountyOffices maintains strict editorial independence from our affiliate partners. Our content is researched from official government sources. Affiliate relationships do not influence our recommendations or the information we publish.
Editorial Trust
5 official sources cited
Reviewed by CountyOffices Editorial Team
Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Covington
Population: 115,000
Area: 276 sq mi
Established: 1821
Tier: 3
Inmate Services
Care Packages
Send care packages to inmates in Newton County facilities via Amazon.
