What are the best things to do in Cartersville, GA beyond the museums?
Cartersville is Georgia’s Museum City — and the three Smithsonian-affiliated institutions on that résumé deserve every visitor they get. But buyers and residents who stop at the museums are missing more than half of what makes Cartersville one of the most genuinely interesting small cities in Northwest Atlanta. There is a forest of 4,000 forgotten cars growing into the Georgia woods. There is Georgia’s largest camel herd within city limits. There is a craft brewery next to a 19th-century covered bridge. There is a steeplechase that has been called the best lawn party in Georgia. And there is Red Top Mountain State Park’s 15-plus miles of lake-view trails accessible from I-75 Exit 285 in less time than it takes to find parking at a major Atlanta attraction.
This post covers the full picture — the activities, the dining, the events, and the genuinely unusual experiences that make Cartersville worth discovering whether you’re visiting for the day or deciding whether to buy a home here. For buyers who are specifically evaluating Cartersville as a place to live, the lifestyle infrastructure covered in this post is a meaningful part of the quality-of-life case for Bartow County — and it is consistently more extensive than buyers expect when they first start researching the market.
Nicole France, REALTOR® with RE/MAX Center, has worked the Cartersville market for over 26 years. Here are the ten best things to do in Cartersville, GA — starting where most visitor guides end.
1. Old Car City USA — A Forest of Forgotten Cars
Old Car City USA is the most distinctive attraction in the Cartersville area and one of the most genuinely unusual destinations in all of Georgia. Located at 3098 US-411 in White, GA — close enough to Cartersville that you won’t notice you’ve crossed a city line — Old Car City USA displays more than 4,000 classic cars in stock along six miles of trails, where nature has been allowed to run wild with the rare relics collected since the family business began in 1931. The attraction is described as a photographer’s paradise, with classic cars in various states of decay growing into the surrounding Georgia forest.
The “Mayor” of Old Car City, Walter Dean Lewis, grew up in junkyards and when he inherited the family business decided to let nature run wild with the rare relics he collected for parts. Along six miles of trails there are many treasures waiting to be rediscovered and frozen in time in the photographer’s lens. Lewis’ creative expression also fills The Doo Dol Room, his formal name for what’s believed to be the South’s only Styrofoam cup art gallery, where hundreds of original pen and ink creations evoke smiles and great conversation.
Old Car City USA has been called one of the most internationally photographed locations in Georgia, drawing photographers, artists, vintage car enthusiasts, and curious visitors who discover it on social media and can’t believe it’s real until they see it in person. The $25 admission is one of the most reasonable fees charged anywhere in the Northwest Atlanta corridor for an experience that is this genuinely unlike anything else in the market. Plan two to three hours — the six miles of trails through the car forest reward slow exploration. Learn more about the Cartersville area communities Nicole serves here.
2. Red Top Mountain State Park — Hiking, Swimming, and Camping on Lake Allatoona
Red Top Mountain State Park is the outdoor recreation anchor of the Cartersville area and the most accessible state park in Georgia relative to Interstate access — sitting directly off I-75 at Exit 285 on the southern shoreline of Lake Allatoona. The park covers 1,776 acres with more than 15 miles of hiking trails, a sand beach for swimming, 92 campsites for tents and RVs, 18 lakeside cottages, a yurt, picnic facilities, and kayaking access on one of Georgia’s most popular recreational lakes.
The Homestead Trail is the park’s showcase route — a 5.5-mile loop on a peninsula stretching into Lake Allatoona, with lake views from the ridgeline, shoreline access mid-trail, and wildlife encounters that make every visit feel different from the last. The Iron Hill Trail adds four miles of forested hiking through the park’s mining history section, with interpretive signage about the 19th-century iron industry that gave the mountain its name. Multiple shorter trails under a mile serve families with young children and visitors who want the park experience without committing to a long hike.
Red Top Mountain is a legitimate four-season destination. Spring brings wildflowers and mild temperatures that make the hiking exceptional. Summer draws swimmers, boaters, and campers to the lake. Fall turns the hardwoods copper and red against the blue-green water in one of the most photogenic settings in Northwest Georgia. Winter thins the crowds enough that a weekday hike on the Homestead Trail can feel like private access to a park that gets hundreds of thousands of visitors per year. For buyers who are evaluating Cartersville specifically for outdoor access, Red Top Mountain’s proximity is one of the most compelling arguments for a Bartow County address.
3. Pettit Creek Farms — Georgia’s Largest Camel Herd Within City Limits
Just about a mile from the downtown square but well within the Cartersville City Limits, Pettit Creek Farms is home to Georgia’s largest camel herd. These camels reside with giraffes, and many of the uniquely fascinating animals that you can meet, feed, and pet. Pettit Creek Farms is the kind of attraction that sounds like it shouldn’t exist — a working farm with camels, giraffes, exotic animals, and interactive feeding experiences within a mile of a city’s historic downtown square — and yet it has been a legitimate destination for Cartersville area families for years.
Located at 337 Cassville Road, Pettit Creek Farms offers seasonal programming that expands significantly in the fall with pumpkin patches, corn mazes, hayrides, and the full autumn farm experience that draws families from across the Northwest Atlanta corridor. The farm’s combination of exotic animals and traditional fall activities gives it a programming range that makes it worth multiple visits rather than a single one-and-done trip. For buyers with children who are evaluating Cartersville’s family lifestyle, Pettit Creek Farms is one of the hyper-local amenities that makes the city genuinely distinct from its Northwest Atlanta neighbors.
4. Drowned Valley Brewing Company — Downtown and The Outpost at Euharlee
Drowned Valley Brewing Company has been Bartow County’s craft beer anchor since 2019, located in historic downtown Cartersville at 4 South Tennessee Street — just two blocks from the heart of the city. The taproom offers table games, darts, large screen TVs, award-winning beers, live music on weekends, rotating food trucks, and an outdoor fire pit that becomes the social center of the downtown on cool weather evenings. The atmosphere is family and dog-friendly in a way that makes it the default gathering place for Cartersville residents who want a quality craft beverage without the drive to Kennesaw or Acworth.
The Outpost — Drowned Valley’s second location at 118 Covered Bridge Road in Euharlee, next to the historic Euharlee Creek Covered Bridge — offers all the same great Drowned Valley amenities including games, food trucks, firepits, and live music, plus an on-site gated playground, disc golf, and a view of the covered bridge and the creek. The Outpost’s setting — a craft brewery next to one of Georgia’s oldest covered bridges, with disc golf and a creek view — is one of the most distinctive outdoor beverage experiences in the entire Northwest Atlanta corridor. It is the kind of place that buyers from urban markets with strong brewery cultures specifically look for when evaluating suburban relocation destinations.
For buyers who are considering Cartersville and are specifically evaluating the social and lifestyle infrastructure, Drowned Valley’s two locations give the city a craft beverage culture that competes with communities significantly larger than itself. Talk to Nicole France about what daily life in Cartersville actually looks like for residents.
5. The Euharlee Covered Bridge — One of Georgia’s Oldest
The Euharlee Covered Bridge is one of Georgia’s oldest covered bridges, located in the small community of Euharlee just west of Cartersville along the Euharlee Creek. Built in 1886 using the Town Lattice design, the bridge is one of only a handful of covered bridges remaining in Georgia and one of the best-preserved examples of 19th-century wooden bridge construction in the Southeast. The bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and sits in a setting — the creek below, hardwood trees on both banks, the Drowned Valley Outpost taproom adjacent — that makes it one of the most photographed spots in Bartow County.
The Euharlee Covered Bridge is accessible free of charge and is open for pedestrian crossing. The surrounding park area provides picnic facilities and creek access that make it a pleasant half-hour stop or a full-afternoon destination when combined with the Drowned Valley Outpost. For photography enthusiasts, the bridge’s interior wooden lattice structure and its creek reflection on clear days produce images that consistently surprise visitors who expected a standard historic marker rather than a genuinely beautiful 19th-century structure in an intact natural setting.
6. The Georgia Steeplechase — The Best Lawn Party in Georgia
The Georgia Steeplechase is a springtime tradition bringing together thousands of equestrian enthusiasts and organizations since 1966, referred to as “the best lawn party in Georgia.” The event includes local bands, food trucks, shopping, wine tastings, and a hat parade. Held each spring at the Kingston Downs equestrian center near Cartersville, the Georgia Steeplechase is one of the most distinctive and most beloved annual events in the Northwest Atlanta corridor — a full day of horse racing, elaborate tailgating, Southern fashion, and the kind of community social energy that smaller cities with genuine character produce and larger cities cannot manufacture.
The hat competition and hat parade that accompany the steeplechase racing have become events within the event — spectators who arrive in elaborately decorated hats are as much a part of the visual experience as the horses themselves. The food and beverage programming has grown substantially over the event’s history, with local food trucks and wine tastings complementing the traditional tailgate culture that has defined the steeplechase for decades. For buyers who are coming from cities with active outdoor event cultures and are wondering whether Cartersville has the community character to support those experiences, the Georgia Steeplechase is one of the most compelling annual answers.
7. The Rose Lawn Arts Festival
The Rose Lawn Arts Festival has been going on for more than 40 years every September, featuring the work of artists from around the region. Attendees can browse for oils, watercolors, sculptures, and hand-crafted items before taking a tour of the majestic Rose Lawn Museum. The festival takes place on the grounds of the Rose Lawn Museum — the Victorian-era home of nationally renowned evangelist Sam Jones, restored and maintained as one of Cartersville’s most significant historic properties. The combination of arts programming and historic house tours gives the festival a depth that single-category arts events don’t achieve.
The Rose Lawn Arts Festival is the kind of community event that becomes an annual anchor for residents — a September tradition that marks the transition from summer to fall and brings the downtown’s cultural community together in a single concentrated weekend. For buyers who are evaluating Cartersville’s community character as part of their relocation decision, attending the Rose Lawn Arts Festival gives a more accurate picture of the city’s cultural investment than any listing description or brochure can provide. Find out what your current home is worth before making your Cartersville move.
8. The Southeastern Cowboy Festival at the Booth Western Art Museum
Every October, the Southeastern Cowboy Festival and Symposium descends upon the Booth Western Art Museum for gunfight re-enactments, Native American dancing, and art-related events. It is the region’s largest Western-themed event. The Southeastern Cowboy Festival expands the Booth Western Art Museum’s year-round programming into a multi-day outdoor event that brings living history, cultural performance, and Western art programming together on the museum’s grounds in a format that is unlike anything else available in the Northwest Atlanta corridor.
The festival is one of those genuinely unusual events that defines a city’s character in a way that generic suburban programming cannot. The combination of gunfight re-enactments, Native American cultural demonstrations, and the backdrop of the Southeast’s largest Western art collection creates an experience that draws visitors from across Georgia and from neighboring states who specifically come to Cartersville for this event. For residents of the Cartersville area, it is one of those October traditions that makes living here feel richer than the city’s size would suggest.
9. The Grand Theatre — Live Performances in a Restored Historic Venue
The Grand Theatre in downtown Cartersville is a restored historic performance venue that brings live theater, concerts, comedy, and touring productions to a city that most visitors assume would require a drive to Atlanta for this level of entertainment. The theater’s restoration preserved the architectural character of the original building while updating the technical systems and seating to support a professional-grade performance experience. The programming calendar runs year-round with a mix of community productions from the Pumphouse Players, touring acts, and special events that give the Grand Theatre a consistent presence in Cartersville’s social calendar.
For buyers who are specifically concerned about access to live performance after a move to Cartersville, the Grand Theatre answers the question directly — you do not have to drive to Marietta or Atlanta for a quality live performance experience. The theater’s programming is not at the scale of Atlanta’s Fox Theatre or the Cobb Energy Centre, but it is genuine, locally supported, and actively programmed in a way that reflects the cultural seriousness of a city that has invested in its performing arts infrastructure. Explore the Cartersville communities Nicole serves across Bartow County here.
10. Live Near All of It
The best version of everything on this list is the version where you don’t have to plan a trip to experience it. It’s the version where Red Top Mountain is your Tuesday evening walk after work. Where Drowned Valley is your Friday night without a designated driver situation because it’s two miles from home. Where the Georgia Steeplechase is something you walk to with your neighbors instead of navigating event parking as an out-of-town visitor. Where Old Car City is the place you take every out-of-town guest because you’ve been there three times yourself and it still surprises you.
That version of Cartersville — where the museums, the trails, the brewery, the festivals, the covered bridge, and the camel herd are all part of your regular life rather than a planned day trip — is available to buyers who purchase in the communities closest to the city’s core and its outdoor recreation infrastructure. Cartersville is genuinely distinctive. The combination of cultural depth, outdoor access, and small-town character at a below-market price point is not replicated anywhere else in the Northwest Atlanta corridor.
Buyers who visit Cartersville expecting a generic suburban market and discover what the city actually offers almost universally leave with a different impression than they arrived with. That gap between expectation and reality is the specific opportunity that still exists in this market — and that gap is closing as more buyers discover what longtime Cartersville residents have known for years. Nicole France has served buyers and sellers across Bartow County for over 26 years and knows which Cartersville communities put you closest to the lifestyle that makes this city worth choosing. Contact Nicole France to start your Cartersville home search today.
Frequently Asked Questions About Things to Do in Cartersville, GA
What is Cartersville, GA known for?
Cartersville is designated Georgia’s Museum City and is the smallest town in the U.S. with two Smithsonian Affiliate Museums — the Booth Western Art Museum and the Tellus Science Museum. The city is also known for the world’s first outdoor painted Coca-Cola wall sign on Main Street, the Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site, Old Car City USA, Georgia’s largest camel herd at Pettit Creek Farms, the Euharlee Covered Bridge, the Georgia Steeplechase, and its proximity to Lake Allatoona and Red Top Mountain State Park. The combination of cultural institutions, outdoor recreation access, and genuinely unusual attractions makes Cartersville one of the most distinctive small cities in all of Northwest Georgia.
Is Cartersville GA worth visiting?
Consistently yes — and most visitors leave with a stronger impression than they arrived with. The city delivers more per visit than its size would suggest, with a concentration of cultural infrastructure, outdoor recreation access, historic landmarks, and genuinely unusual attractions that competes with cities several times its population. A well-planned day trip from Atlanta covers the Booth Western Art Museum, a hike at Red Top Mountain State Park, dinner at one of the downtown restaurants, and a stop at Drowned Valley Brewing — a combination that gives a complete picture of what makes Cartersville worth both visiting and living in.
What outdoor activities are available near Cartersville, GA?
Cartersville has exceptional outdoor access for a city its size. Red Top Mountain State Park offers 15-plus miles of hiking trails and a sand beach directly on Lake Allatoona, accessible from I-75 Exit 285. Lake Allatoona itself provides 12,000 acres of boating, fishing, kayaking, and waterfront recreation within 15 minutes of most Cartersville residential addresses. The Pine Mountain Trail near Cartersville offers summit views of Lake Allatoona and the Atlanta skyline. Cooper’s Furnace Day Use Area on the Etowah River provides river walk hiking through historic iron furnace ruins. The Etowah Indian Mounds trail system offers flat river walk hiking on archaeologically significant terrain. And Drowned Valley Brewing’s Outpost location in Euharlee includes disc golf and creek-side outdoor space next to the historic covered bridge.
Ready to Live in Cartersville, GA?
Nicole France, REALTOR® with RE/MAX Center, has been helping buyers find the right home in Cartersville and across Northwest Atlanta for over 26 years. She works with buyers and sellers across Cobb, Cherokee, Paulding, and Bartow counties — and knows which Cartersville communities put you closest to the outdoor recreation, cultural infrastructure, and neighborhood character that make this city so compelling.
Schedule a complimentary and confidential consultation with Nicole France at (404) 867-3869 or visit nicolefrance-realestate.com to get started.
Nicole France is a REALTOR® with RE/MAX Center serving buyers and sellers across Acworth, Kennesaw, Dallas, Cartersville, and Woodstock. Client Focused · Results Driven.