C is for

Cobb County Courthouse.

Marietta is the county seat of Cobb County, and the Courthouse and other government buildings built in the mid-1960s occupy the east side of the square.

The old Cobb County Courthouse was a two-story brick structure with clock tower, finally completed in 1873 to replace the one burned by Sherman's army in November 1864. The county was so impoverished by the war that it took that long before a replacement could be erected.

[I remember this older building and one of my earliest cross-stitch pieces was of the clock tower, but years ago I think I finally tossed it out.]

C is also for construction. Construction has things in a bit of a mess around our square until late April. Ugh.

You see the temporary traffic blocks above. We're getting new cobblestone crosswalks. They will look nice but they are sure causing lots of traffic congestion.

C is for Church Street, the road leading in to the square from the north. Three churches (Baptist, Episcopal, and Presbyterian) are just before you enter the square from the north.

And even though not on the square itself, yet within walking distance, C is for cemeteries.

The Marietta National Military Cemetery

“Here rest the remains of 10,312 Officers and Soldiers who died in defense of the Union 1861-1865.”

Yes, Union.

Established in 1866 to provide a suitable resting place for the nearly 10,000 Union dead from Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign. "Henry Cole, a local merchant who remained loyal to the Union throughout the war, offered land for a burial ground for both Union and Confederate dead. His hope was that by honoring those who had fallen together, others might learn to live in peace. Unfortunately, both sides clung to their bitterness and neither North nor South would accept Cole’s offer toward reconciliation."


South of the square is the Marietta Confederate Cemetery, established in 1863 by the Ladies Memorial Association.

Marietta became a major hospital town for the Confederacy as wounded were transported by train from Dalton to Marietta.

Read more here.