We are still making history to this day!
Covington was founded by European immigrants to the United States. It was incorporated in 1822 as the seat of the newly organized Newton County. Covington was named for United States Army Brigadier General and United States Congressman Leonard Covington, a hero of the War of 1812.
In recent years Covington has become a favorite location for filmmakers and is known to many as "The Hollywood of the South." Read on to see just a few of the films that have cast Covington in a starring role.
2009-2017
Covington transformed into "Mystic Falls" for 8 seasons of The Vampire Diaries.
1954
Covington's First United Methodist Church was used for the church exterior shots in this Oscar nominated film.
1978
You can see the General Lee, the bright orange car driven by the Duke boys, on Elm Street in Covington jumping 157 feet into the air in the first episode
1980
The city of Covington had to remove power lines around the square before filming the iconic plane landing scene for The Cannonball Run.
1986
The iconic hockey masked killer could be found stalking the Covington area and surrounding towns during this installment of the Friday the 13th film franchise.
1991
This Oscar winning film utilized many locations around Covington and Newton County to create the setting of a small town in Alabama.
1988-1994
Covington was known as Sparta and home to Police Chief William Gillespie and police detective Virgil Tibbs in this long running crime drama.
1997
Featuring Patrick Swayze, Meatloaf and Randy Travis, Black Dog disguised Covington as North Carolina for this truck driving, gun hauling action film.
2000
This inspirational film starring Denzel Washington was partially filmed in Covington.
2002
Sweet home Covington, Georgia was one of the filming locations for this 2002 romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon.
2009
The Myers House and Haddonfield Town Square were really historical Covington transformed for this Rob Zombie horror film remake.
2010
The courtroom scene in Footloose (2010) was filmed in the historic courthouse on Covington's square.
2011
A church was erected and a broken aircraft was placed in Green Valley Farms fields, just a few miles outside of downtown Covington, to create the plane crash scene.
2014
The iconic courthouse served as the Hotel Albert in the historical film recounting Dr. Martin Luther King's bid to secure voting rights for African Americans in Alabama.
2014
The sorority house scene in Vacation was filmed at one of Covington's many beautiful historic homes.
2015
Covington was the perfect picturesque backdrop for the television movie inspired by Dolly Parton's life story.
2017
The guys from Queer Eye help makeover a member of the Covington Fire Department as well as the kitchen at the CFD headquarters.
2018
The long awaited sequel to Stephen King's "The Shining" was filmed in Covington and is scheduled to be released in late 2019.
2018
Slated to premiere in 2020, this live action movie inspired by the ride at Disney features Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt.