By Carol Badaracco Padgett
If you don’t think of art and culture when you think of Cartersville, Georgia, then you haven’t let the town entertain you for a while. Georgia Entertainment’s Creative Economy Journal has compiled 10 reasons to revisit the Atlanta suburb of approximately 23,000 residents, along with some energetic intel from Steven Schumacher, president of Only in Cartersville Bartow, the area’s convention and visitors bureau (CVB).
1-Cartersville, Georgia, is called Museum City. One prominent reason why is its Booth Western Art Museum, a 120,000-square-foot mainstay in the city for 21 years. It showcases incredibly sophisticated paintings and sculptures by masters and is reported to be the world’s largest permanent exhibition space for Western art.
2-Other incredible museums in Cartersville include its newest, Savoy Automobile Museum – sitting on 37 acres and showcasing five exhibition galleries with permanent and rotating collections of everything from classic models spanning the early 1900s to 21st century muscle cars. One gallery showcases cars used in films, like the 1949 Buick Roadmaster Convertible from “Rainman,” the 1958 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe from “American Graffiti,” and the 1925 Chevrolet Superior Roadster from “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Expect to see NASCAR models, too. In 2022, the only Formula 1 car in the U.S. was there for a few weeks.
3-Additional museums in Cartersville include Tellus Science Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. The world-class science and natural history museum has over 120,000 square feet that includes hands-on exhibits for kids. Expansion is underway to add even more square footage and exhibits.
4-Bartow County’s Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site is a 54-acre archaeological site just south of Cartersville, part of Georgia State Parks. The prehistoric site (built and occupied from 1000-1500 CE) sits on the Etowah River’s north shore. For before or after trekking the mounds, there’s a visitors center that houses the Etowah Archaeological Museum and a theater that shows a video on the site’s history.
5-Cartersville’s culinary scene is robust and eclectic – and includes 14 chef-owned and operated restaurants. The options range from family-friendly to white tablecloth.
6-There’s also a craft brewery downtown – Drowned Valley Brewing Co. — with 16 beers on tap, outdoor space, live music, and food trucks.
7-Notably, live music is actually everywhere. Venues include Tom’s Place, Sixes Tavern, The Local Bar & Grill, The Cedar Cellar and Loft, Madlife Stage & Studios, and at least five others the make the list on Yelp.
8-The city of 23k has three prominent performing arts centers, each with a very different feel: the historic, 508-seat The Grand Theatre; Pumphouse Players, an intimate 70-seat venue that houses one of the oldest community theater companies in the state; and ACT I Inc., a nonprofit youth theatre company that trains students 12-20 years old – for aspiring actors, set designers, stage managers, directors, costumers, prop masters, sound designers and lighting designers, and every imaginable creative position.
9-There’s a cool twilight tour each fall at the city’s Oak Hill Cemetery, established in 1838, hosted by local The Grand Theatre and Bartow History Museum.
10-Gardens and greenspace – wherever nature exists, art is not far behind. Cartersville and surrounding areas in Bartow County offer mountains, rivers, lakes, and gardens. One excellent example of them all is Barnsley Resort, a historic Southern estate in Adairsville, about a 25-minute drive north of Museum City. Barnsley Resort rests on 3,000 acres in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and offers every Southern-inspired man-made and natural amenity a Georgia resident or tourist could imagine.
This article appeared in the 2025 edition of the Creative Economy Journal. See more from the Journal here.
