Glover Park

Glover Park: The Green Center of Marietta Square

Located directly in the center of Marietta Square is Glover Park, a public green space with a big role in downtown life. The park covers a little more than an acre, but its job description is absurdly long. It is a downtown park, lunch spot, playground stop, wedding setting, portrait backdrop, concert venue, festival ground, and holiday stage. It gives the Square its rhythm. Office workers cut through it at lunch. Families drift toward the train engine playground. Couples line up for photos near the gazebo. Concert crowds bring chairs and blankets when the music season starts. The fountain does what a good town fountain is supposed to do. It pulls the eye, slows the feet, and gives restless kids something to orbit. Brick paths cross lawns framed by mature trees, benches, and seasonal plantings, with the fountain near the center and the gazebo and main stage at opposite ends.

Glover Park is also why Marietta Square feels different from many suburban downtowns around Atlanta. It is not a main street strip dressed up with antique looking lamps. The park gives the district a real center. Restaurants, bars, shops, museums, theaters, and offices face inward toward a shared public space. On ordinary days, people eat lunch on benches, children climb through the train playground, and visitors pause beside the fountain. During major events, the same park fills with music, tents, folding chairs, and enough festival food to leave good intentions back at the parking lot.

From Courthouse Ground to Public Park

The center of the Square originally contained the Cobb County courthouse. John Heyward Glover acquired property on the east side of the Square and offered it as a new courthouse location in exchange for the central parcel. The courthouse moved, and Glover transferred the former courthouse ground to the city around 1852 for use as a public park.

The original deed disappeared or was destroyed during the Civil War. That missing document became important more than a century later, when questions about ownership and the conditions attached to the property reached the Supreme Court of Georgia in 1969. The court record confirmed that Glover had transferred the land to the city and that it had been designated for public park use. It rejected hearsay testimony that ownership would automatically return to Glover’s heirs if another use were introduced. The court case was connected to a proposal to build a four story parking deck on the park property during the 1960s. The proposal disappeared amid legal questions and public opposition. Asphalt lost. The grass remained.

The Park During and After the Civil War

By 1863, Marietta had become a hospital town for Confederate forces. Buildings surrounding the Square were converted into medical facilities as wounded soldiers arrived by rail from fighting in Tennessee and North Georgia. Union troops later occupied the city and used many of the same buildings after the Confederate withdrawal in 1864.

The park itself suffered along with downtown. Its fence was dismantled for military fortifications, and shade trees were cut. After the war, livestock wandered through the unfenced grounds. Pigs rooted around sidewalks, while goats ate replacement saplings. Downtown landscaping was losing badly to farm animals. A city ordinance eventually required livestock to be penned, and a new park fence was completed in 1870.

The Fountain

A fountain has occupied the park since the 1890s, though the current model arrived in 1985. Former Georgia legislator Harold Willingham donated $35,000 toward its construction, and Robinson Iron of Alexander City, Alabama, produced the three tiered cast iron fountain.

The fountain measures 13 feet tall and weighs approximately 3,500 pounds. Its three bowls measure seven feet, four feet, and two feet four inches across. The upper bowls use patterns acquired from the former J.L. Mott Iron company, while the lower bowl features a Roman egg and dart pattern. That is an impressive amount of iron for an object regularly asked to pose behind toddlers, wedding parties, and people holding ice cream.

The Train Playground

The playground is a compact train engine play structure with climbing areas and a small slide. It is better suited to younger children than older children seeking a sprawling play complex. The railroad is a playful reference to local railroad history and the design fits the setting, since the tracks and historic depot are located nearby and rail traffic shaped much of downtown’s early development.

The Liberty Bell

The Liberty Bell on the east side of Glover Park is a full scale duplicate, matching the size and shape of the bell displayed in Philadelphia, though without its famous crack. The Marietta Jaycees presented the bell to Marietta and Cobb County on July 4, 1976, during the nation’s Bicentennial celebration. It was cast in England by Whitechapel Bell Foundry, the same historic foundry that produced the original Liberty Bell sent to Pennsylvania in 1752. That shared origin gives Marietta’s replica a direct link to one of the country’s best known symbols of independence.

The Alexander Stephens Clay Statue

The bronze figure near the fountain depicts Alexander Stephens Clay, a Cobb County native who practiced law in Marietta and held several state and local offices. Clay represented Georgia in the U.S. Senate from March 4, 1897, until his death on November 13, 1910.

Friends and associates funded the monument, which was erected in 1912. The bronze figure rises above a tall stone base covered with inscriptions describing Clay’s public career and the esteem of those who commissioned it. The monument adds a formal civic note to the park, though children racing toward the train rarely pause to notice.

The Gazebo

The white gazebo is one of the park’s primary photo settings. Wedding parties, prom groups, families, and portrait photographers regularly use it, aided by the surrounding flowers and mature trees. The city also permits weddings in Glover Park at approved times, with the gazebo frequently selected as the ceremony location.

The gazebo is ornamental but functional. It provides a raised platform for small ceremonies and appearances, while its open sides preserve views across the park. It also offers shelter from a brief rain shower, though a full Georgia thunderstorm will quickly expose the limits of Victorian inspired architecture.

The Stage

The permanent performance stage occupies the end of the park opposite the gazebo. It is large enough for bands, public ceremonies, and festival entertainment, yet it does not overwhelm the lawn on ordinary days. The stage becomes the focal point during evening concerts, lunchtime performances, and holiday programs.

The long running Glover Park Concert Series uses the stage on the final Friday evening of each month from April through September. The free concerts feature local and national performers, with attendees spreading blankets and folding chairs across the lawn.

The Brown Bag Lunchtime Concert Series also uses the stage on Thursdays during May and September. These midday performances are built around a simple formula where attendees bring their lunch, find a patch of shade, and let somebody else handle the music.

Public Restrooms

Public restrooms are located behind and beneath the raised stage. The entrance is easy to overlook from the fountain side of the park, so visitors should walk around the rear of the stage. Access is available by a short set of stairs and a ramp.

The placement beneath the stage preserves lawn space and puts the facilities close to large events. It is a practical addition, particularly for families with small children and concert visitors who underestimated the consequences of a large iced tea.

Events in Glover Park

Glover Park hosts events through much of the year. May-Retta Daze fills the park with arts, crafts, food and live performances during the first weekend in May. Art in the Park uses the park and nearby streets during Labor Day weekend, while Chalktoberfest adds professional chalk art, vendors and music each October.

HarvestFest follows later in October with scarecrows, children’s activities, arts and crafts, a costume contest and other fall attractions. The Christmas Tree Lighting uses the park for choir performances, Santa’s arrival, and the annual lighting ceremony. Fourth in the Park also brings concerts and activities in and around Glover Park before the evening fireworks.

Movie nights have also appeared through the Square Screenings series, with films projected after sunset and activities beginning earlier in the evening. Weddings, public ceremonies, promotional events, and occasional specialty festivals fill gaps between the larger annual dates.

A Small Park With a Large Role

Glover Park remains close to the purpose established during the 1850s of having a public park in the center of downtown. Its appearance has changed repeatedly. Courthouse grounds became landscaped parkland. Civil War damage gave way to new fences and trees. Older fountains were replaced, a statue and bell arrived, and later renovations added the current fountain, stage, playground, and restrooms.

The result is neither grand nor complicated. A fountain, some shade, a train playground for children, places to sit, and two platforms for everything from wedding vows to electric guitars. Glover Park has spent more than 170 years proving that a city does not need dozens of acres to create a useful public space. Sometimes it needs one good lawn and firm resistance to a parking deck.

Address:
Glover Park and Historic Marietta Square
50 Park Square
Marietta, GA 30060

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Marietta Square