Covington, Georgia

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Covington-Porterdale census division. It lies in ZIP code area 30014. The Survey maps it on the Covington quadrangle. 14,192 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 741 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Covington within Newton County

On record in Covington

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 7 records

Brick Storelisted 2009
Covington Historic Districtlisted 1998
Newton County Courthouselisted 1980
Covington Mills and Mill Village Historic Districtlisted 2000
Floyd Street Historic Districtlisted 1974
North Covington Historic Districtlisted 2000
Salem Camp Groundlisted 1998

Surveyed buildings and structures 5 records

Alcovy Road Bridge, Spanning Alcovy River, Covingtonfederal building survey, 10 photographs
Carr Hill, West Hill Street, Covingtonfederal building survey, 5 photographs
Downs House, Covingtonfederal building survey, 2 photographs
Salem Camp Ground, Covingtonfederal building survey, 4 photographs
Spense-Harris House, Covingtonfederal building survey, 1 photograph

Population over time

2 figures

Covington grew from 13,118 to 14,192 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

Year	People	Change
2010	13,118
2020	14,192	+1,074 (+8%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 17 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

1896 USGS Monroe quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
1953 USGS Athens quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1958 USGS Athens quadrangle1:250000
1959 USGS Athens quadrangle1:250000
1963 USGS Athens quadrangle1:250000
1964 USGS Covington quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
1980 USGS Athens quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
1988 USGS Athens quadrangle1:250000

Photographs

5 photographs,

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Spense-Harris House, Covington, Newton County, GA
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Downs House, Covington, Newton County, GA
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Carr Hill, West Hill Street, Covington, Newton County, GA
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Alcovy Road Bridge, Spanning Alcovy River, Covington, Newton County, GA
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Salem Camp Ground, Covington, Newton County, GA
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

290 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 290 fires within 5 miles of Covington between 1992 and 2019, burning about 409 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 36 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	116
Arson/incendiarism	36
Equipment and vehicle use	30
Misuse of fire by a minor	25
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	23
Smoking	20
Natural	15
Recreation and ceremony	13
Railroad operations and maintenance	12

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
7 September 1997	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
5 September 2002	Smoking	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2003-NEWTON-007
4 September 2019	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2020NEWTON001
30 September 2001	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2002-NEWTON-003
3 September 2007	Natural	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
27 September 2016	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	FY2017-NEWTON-003
24 September 2003	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named
16 September 1999	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Georgia Forestry Commission	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Newton County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Covington: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where	Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
	Newton County Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
	Oxford Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer

Every working recorded in Newton County

Storms near this place

54 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Covington in 54 storm reports between 1995 and 2026: 26 hail, 20 thunderstorm wind, 4 lightning, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
December 2015	Flash Flood	Covington	$781,000	The Newton County Emergency Manager reported an entire shopping center parking lot in the Covington area was flooded by the adjacent Dried Indian Creek. Flood waters entered some of the stores.
April 2000	Lightning	Covington	$500,000	The Rockdale Citizen in Conyers reported that lightning caused an extensive fire to a home in Covington. The lightning came in on a ham radio antenna. It took over 65,000 gallons of water and firefighters from seven different communities to battle a 4-alarm blaze set by the lightning. The house was a total loss with $300,000 estimated damages to the structure alone and another $200,000 in damages to contents. The house also contained a dental office.
October 2020	Tornado (EF1)	Covington	$250,000	A National Weather Service survey team found that an EF1 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 90 mph and a maximum path width of 75 yards travelled 1.43 miles across parts of Newton County on the west side of Covington. The tornado first touched down near the intersection of Washington Street and Walker Bend Parkway and moved northwest, ending just south of I-20 along Woodhaven Drive. The tornado produced some tree and structural damage with the most serious and extensive damage occurring along Turner Lake Circle at a homeless shelter where portions of the roof and walls of the building were damaged. Two people suffered minor injuries. [10/10/20: Tornado #1, County #1/1, EF-1, Newton, 2020:028].
July 2007	Lightning	Covington	$200,000	The Newton Citizen of Rockdale reported that lightning struck a home on Williams Road near Georgia Highway 81. Extensive damage resulted to the attic. The four occupants were displaced from their home. Lightning also knocked out the power line to a home on Georgia Highway 142, but there was no fire reported that this site.
April 2005	Hail	Covington	$70,000	The public reported penny to golf ball-sized hail in Covington and penny-sized hail in Almon.
August 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$10,000	The Covington News reported that thunderstorm winds caused damage to at least two shops in downtown Covington. Several plate glass windows were shattered in a downtown clothing store, along with the front door and a large back window. At the downtown Deli, a large 98-year old neon sign outside the building was battered and left dangling above the restaurant by one cord. Several trees were blown down around the downtown area as well, leaving much of the area without power during the evening.
August 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$10,000	Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and power lines all over town in Covington and in Newton county. Some structures were damaged as trees feell on them. The time was estimated from a newspaper article.
April 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$7,500	no account filed
September 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$5,000	An off-duty National Weather Service employee reported numerous tents and canopies damaged at the Newton County fairgrounds. No injuries were reported.
July 2004	Lightning	Covington	$4,000	The Covington News reported that seven cows were killed by lightning. The cows were located on a farm north of Covington off Gum Creek Road. A brood of four cows and three calves were killed instantly by a lightning strike. The cows were between four and seven years old.
July 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$4,000	Thunderstorm winds knocked down several trees.
January 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$3,000	The public reported several trees and power lines down near Covington.
March 2026	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$2,000	A couple trees downed on the west side of town off clark st.
August 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$1,500	The Rockdale Citizen of Conyers reported that thunderstorm winds blew down a tree onto a telephone pole knocking out power to about 50 residents for around three hours. Later, another large branch fell off an oak tree in the same general area knocking power out to about 800-1000 customers.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$1,000	Large tree fell on a portion of a house and pool near Phedora St and Elizabeth St.
March 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$1,000	The public reported a tree blown down at the Covington Park & Ride lot.
April 2005	Lightning	Covington	$1,000	The Newton County 911 Center reported that a home was struck by lightning. Damage was minor.
February 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$1,000	The Newton county 911 center reported that several trees were blown down near the intersection of U.S. Highway 278 and Georgia Highway 142.
June 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$1,000	no account filed
April 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$500	The Newton County 911 Center reported that two trees were down at Emory Street and Echols Street.
December 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$500	The Newton County 911 Center reported that a couple of trees were blown down.
June 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$500	The Newton county 911 center reported that a few trees were blown down.
May 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$500	The public reported that a few trees were blown down.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$500	The Newton county 911 center reported that a few trees were down.
September 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$500	Thunderstorm winds blew several trees down at Adams Road and at Hazelbrown Road.
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	$200	The public reported trees down on Salem Road.
June 2020	Hail	Covington	-	A trained spotter reported hail the size of quarters at the intersection of Highway 278 and Pace Street.
June 2020	Hail	Covington	-	A trained spotter reported hail the size of quarters at the intersection of Elm Street and Floyd Street.
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Covington	-	Numerous trees and powerlines down in Covington. Additional reports of trees down across Newton County.
May 2011	Hail	Covington	-	The public observed half-dollar-sized hail near Convington. WSR-88D radar data suggests that similar-sized hail likely fell from this point to just north of Brick Store in the far east central part of the county.
June 2011	Hail	Covington	-	The Newton County 911 Center reported that half-dollar-sized hail was observed at the Senior Services Center just west of Covington.
April 2009	Hail	Covington	-	The public observed penny-sized hail in the Covington area. Radar data suggests that most of the hail fell on the east and southeast side of Covington.
July 2008	Hail	Covington	-	The public observed penny-sized hail approximately five miles south of Covington.
August 2008	Hail	Covington	-	The Newton County 911 Center relayed a report of penny-sized hail west of Covington.
February 2005	Hail	Covington	-	A trained spotter with the Covington Police Department reported penny-sized hail.
May 2005	Hail	Covington	-	A trained spotter reported penny-sized hail.
July 2004	Hail	Covington	-	The Newton County 911 center reported penny-sized hail.
July 2003	Heavy Rain	Covington	-	The Covington Police Department reported that nearly 4 inches of rain fell during the day resulting in minor street flooding throughout the city.
May 2003	Hail	Covington	-	The public reported penny to nickel-sized hail.
May 2003	Hail	Covington	-	The public reported penny-sized hail in Covington and nickel-sized hail in Mansfield.
August 2003	Hail	Covington	-	The Newton county 911 center reported golf ball-sized hail.
November 2002	Flood	Covington	-	The Rockdale Citizen reported that there was some street flooding in the Covington area during the thunderstorms because of stopped up drainage systems.
April 2002	Hail	Covington	-	The public reported dime to quarter size hail.
June 2000	Hail	Covington	-	The public reported dime size hail.
June 2000	Hail	Covington	-	The public reported nickel size hail.
August 1999	Hail	Covington	-	There were several public reports of hail ranging from nickel to quarter size. One report said the hail was about ping pong ball size.
July 1999	Hail	Covington	-	The public reported penny and golf ball size hail.
February 1998	Hail	Covington	-	The public reported dime to nickel size hail.
May 1998	Hail	Covington	-	The public reported quarter size hail and wind strong enough to blow objects across the road.
July 1997	Hail	Covington	-	Dime to quarter sized hail was reported.
July 1997	Hail	Covington	-	Dime to quarter sized hail was reported.
April 1998	Hail	Covington	-	no account filed
May 1997	Hail	Covington	-	no account filed
June 1996	Hail	Covington	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Newton County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Oxford	1.6 miles	17
Twin Oaks	1.7 miles	18
Settlers Grove	1.7 miles	17
Turkey Creek Estates	1.8 miles	18
Brentwood	1.9 miles	17
Fairfield	2.0 miles	17
Cedar Ridge	2.3 miles	17
Cambridge Forest	2.3 miles	20

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Covington	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1193960	The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 355354. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.