A Day in Covington, Georgia

In early June, my family and I headed down to Covington to explore the city. Here's how the trip came about. I was binge-watching one of my favorite Netflix TV shows, Sweet Magnolias, when a scene led me to Google to search where the show is being filmed (it's still in production). And that's when I discovered Convington, Georgia. When I placed it in maps and realized it was just about a two-hour drive from home, I knew it was going to be our next road trip. 

A few days later, we hit the road. The journey from Acworth took us roughly about an hour and 45 minutes. We enjoyed exploring the Covington Square, around which most of these locations are situated. From the square, we found the Covington mural which highlights some of the famous TV shows and movies that were filmed in the city, among them Vampire Diaries (which seems to dominate the square), Sweet Magnolias, In the Heat of the Night, Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys, and The Dukes of Hazzard. I was surprised to see that scenes from one of my favorite movies, My Cousin Vinny, were also shot in Covington. Anyway, as always, I tell our story that day through the pictures below. Enjoy!

Our first stop in Covington was to see the Welcome to Covington mural, which is located right off the square and around the corner from Mystic Grill. 

Mystic Grill was used as the set location for Dana Sue's restuarant, Sullivan's in Sweet Magnolia's. It was also the set location used to depict the popular hangout spot, The Mystic Grill in the fictional town of Mystic Falls in the Vampire Diaries. We didn't go inside because it is an actual restaurant and since we weren't going in to eat, we didn't think it would be appropriate. 

This is Covington Square. We took a lot of silly family shots here and they all came out great. Some scenes from Sweet Magnolias were shot on the square. 

This is the Visitor's Center, which houses many exhibits on the films and movies that were filmed in the city.

But before we got to the Visitor's Center, we walked past the building that was Maddie's spa in Sweet Magnolias. It's a private business, so we respected their space and simply took a few shots off the sidewalk. 

This mural inside the Visitors Center showcases some of the shows and fictional towns and cities from shows and movies shot in Covington. 

Exhibits from Vampire Diaries. Unfortunately, there were no exhibits from Sweet Magnolias because it's still filming. 

This, and the others that follow below, can be found next to the Visitors Center. It tells us the movie or TV show and the year it was filmed in Covington.

Walking through the neighborhood to find Maddie's house. 

This is Dana Sue's house.

This is Maddie's house (where Maddie's family scenes were mostly shot)

This bed and breakfast (formerly Twelve Oaks Mansion) was used in Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys. It's such a majestic looking structure with lots of character. 

Other movies that were shot at the location are Bessie, The Vampire Diaries, In the Heat of the Night, and many more.