Your Guide to Covington, GA (and surrounding areas)

I don’t consider myself an expert in anything, but if there’s one thing I know A LOT about, it’s Covington, Georgia.

If you’re a fan of Vampire Diaries and have been wanting to visit the place it was filmed, you’ve come to the right place! If you’re not a fan of the show but are looking for a cute, fun little southern town to visit, you’ve also come to the right place!

Covington is located about 45 minutes outside of Atlanta; it’s the perfect reprieve from the bustling city life of Atlanta. It’s home to a picturesque clocktower and dozens of shops and delicious restaurants.

Vampire Diaries Themed Activities In Covington

• Visit the houses that were used on the show!
  • You can see Elena’s house, Caroline’s house, the Lockwood Mansion, Isobel’s house, and Grams’ house! And you can walk to them from the Square!
    • Elena’s House: 2104 Floyd St NE, Covington, GA 30014
    • Caroline’s House: 2118 Floyd St NE, Covington, GA 30014
    • The Lockwood Mansion: 2129 East Street SE, Covington, GA 30014
    • Isobel’s House: 2146 Conyers St. SE, Covington, GA 30014
    • Grams’ House: 2136 Conyers St SE, Covington, GA 30014

• Eat at the Mystic Grill!
  • There’s nothing cooler than being able to eat at the Mystic Grill where so many scenes on the show took place! Their food is absolutely delicious and their prices are great.
  • If the weather is nice, they have outdoor seating on the rooftop with stunning views of the town square and the clocktower
    • Pro-tip: Keep your receipt! You’ll get 10% off your purchase in The Alley, the gift shop downstairs.
      • If you like fried pickles, theirs are to die for! I also love the salmon – that’s my go-to dish – and the fried chicken sliders. I also feel like it’s tradition to get sweet tea while I’m there (I’ve never found a place with better sweet tea than the Grill).
      • If you want a drink, my favorites are the Mystic Midnight and the Damon’s Pancake shot (and you get to keep the shot glass!). If you want a souvenir glass, get one of the slushies and you can get a glass with either a Damon or a Katherine quote on it.
    • They didn’t film inside the Grill, but they used the exterior on the show and they created a replica of the bar inside the restaurant and even have stools for Stefan and Alaric

• Go to The Alley!
  • The Alley is an amazing gift shop located below the Mystic Grill (and right next to the clocktower!)
  • The shop has tons of tvd themed merchandise and also a little museum with clothes that were worn on the show!
  • It’s located right at the bottom of the stairs where Finn was staked in season 3, so it’s a really cool place to recreate photos if you want to. Check out some of ours!

• Check out Vampire Stalkers and Main Street Trolleys and Tours
  • Both companies have locations in Covington Square and both offer tours of filming locations in the Vampire Diaries universe and some of the spots are inaccessible unless you’re on one of these tours.
  • Both locations also sell TVD themed merchandise and Vampire Stalkers has memorabilia for other shows and movies filmed in Covington as well.
• Visit (or stay a night or two) at Twelve Oaks Bed and Breakfast
  • They filmed some of the 1864 Lockwood Mansion scenes there and it’s gorgeous bed and breakfast – 2176 Monticello St SW, Covington, GA 30014
    • You can walk there from the Square!
    • If you aren’t staying there, be mindful and respectful of being on their property!
    • We stayed in Katherine’s Mirror Image Grand Suite and it was absolutely STUNNING

• Check out the Visitor’s Center!
  • The museum at the visitors center has TONS of props from Vampire Diaries, The Originals, and Legacies and also showcases other shows/movies that were filmed in Covington
    • 1143 Oak St SE, Covington, GA 30014

• Visit the park where the Delena rain kiss was filmed
  • Covington has so many beautiful nature spots and this is one of them!
  • The rain kiss was filmed in Academy Springs Park – 3119 Conyers St SE, Covington, GA 30014 – and it’s walkable from the Square
• Check out the cemetery where Aunt Jenna’s funeral was held and where Damon told Stefan that Tyler bit him
  • Covington City Cemetery – it’s located right outside the square on Southview Dr.
    • You can recreate this epic shot from the show!
      

• Grab a drink at Bree’s bar!
  • 4122 Emory St NW, Covington, GA 30014
• If you loved the Prison World as much as I did, check out one of the places Damon, Bonnie, and Kai spent time at – Bell’s!
  • 11377 Brown Bridge Rd, Covington, GA 30016
• Check out the Walk of the Stars. You can find ones for Vampire Diaries, Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, and Ian Somerhalder, but there’s tons more! Check out the full list of stars here.
• Visit the church where Sheriff Forbes’ funeral was held
  • 1113 Conyers St SW, Covington, GA 30014
• Recreate this iconic shot from the show! The intersection looks a little different than it did on the show, but it’s still a really cool photo!

• Visit Mystic Mercantile
  • Mystic Mercantile is a new location with a shop in the front and a replica of the Salvatore living room in the back, including some original furniture from the show!

Vampire Diaries Themed Locations Around Covington

• Go to Whitmore College!
  • Oxford College at Emory University is where the college scenes were filmed and the campus is stunning! It’s quaint and there’s a beautiful clocktower on campus there as well – this is one of my favorite spots around Covington!
  • 801 Emory St, Oxford, GA 30054

• Check out the Armory!
  • The Armory is located in Westview Cemetery Inc. at 1680 Westview Dr SW, Atlanta, GA 30310
  • The grounds of the cemetery are HUGE and it’s a stunningly beautiful area

• Go to the 1864 Salvatore Mansion
  • It’s located at 617 Dixie Ave Madison, GA 30650 and it’s GORGEOUS

• WICKERY BRIDGE!
  • Wickery Bridge is located on a super busy road in Lithonia, GA, but getting a photo on the bridge is absolutely iconic
  • If you take pictures on the bridge itself, BE CAREFUL – cars drive so fast around the bends before and after the bridge, so it’s kind of tough to get good pictures. You have to time everything perfectly and make sure that if you and your friends do it, you’re looking out for each other!
  • The bridge is at 5090 Klondike Rd, Lithonia, GA 30038

• Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted
  • From the street, you can see the location that was used for the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted! It’s located at 5520 Kent Rock Rd, Loganville, GA 30052
  • I attended an event at the manor and was able to go inside – it was stunning!
• Go to Conyers where The Originals was filmed

Places to Check Out in the Covington Square

I absolutely LOVE the Covington Square. There are so many fun shops and one of my absolute FAVORITE things to do when I’m in Covington is just sit in the square and people watch and look at the clocktower – I know it sounds lame, but until you’ve sat in the town square, you won’t understand the pure bliss you feel while you’re there.

Make sure you take pictures in front of the clocktower!

• Wild Art – This is a quaint art shop that sells beautiful art from local artists, Vampire Diaries memorabilia, and also offers art classes! The front windows also showcase some TVD lore.

• Woven – they have the CUTEST clothes and staff always is so friendly!

• Southern Roots Outfitter
• Soap Box
• Town Square Olive Oil
• Sherwood’s Flowers and Gifts
• Ridge Avenue and Co.

Places to Eat in the Square

• Mystic Grill is of course my top choice – but there are so many other delicious places in the Square!
  • Scoops! – If you love ice cream, you’ve got to check out Scoops! Their ice cream is delicious and they also sell tons of candy as well. The TVD cast used to get ice cream here all the time!
  • Your Pie – Your Pie is like Chipotle but for pizza, it’s amazing!
  • Bread and Butter – Bread and Butter is way more than meets the eye! They have coffee and beverages, pastries and sandwiches, macaroons, gifts, alcoholic beverages, and more! It’s a really cute space and such a picturesque coffee shop/cafe!
  • @Local Coffee House & Study Lounge – Local has so much to offer! It’s the perfect space to study and hang out, they have fantastic coffee, refreshers, and pastries, and they also have books and live music! Kayla Ewell (Vicki on TVD) told me once that the cast used to get coffee here all the time.
  • The Social Goat Tavern – I love Social Goat’s food and I LOVE their drink selection! They have great adult juice pouches – I haven’t had one there that I didn’t love! They also have a great weekend brunch.
  • City Pharmacy – I personally have never been to City Pharmacy, but I’ve heard really great things!

Things to Do Outside of Covington

• Visit Monroe!
  • My friend Lisa and I discovered Monroe by accident and we absolutely LOVE it there. It’s only about a 30 minute drive from Covington, and anytime we visit Georgia, we always make a trip to Monroe. I’ve never been to Monroe with anyone but Lisa; it’s like our little sanctuary outside Covington, it’s so special.
  • It’s very similar to Covington. It’s a very quaint little town and there are tons of shops and boutiques – the area we always frequent is N Broad Street and that road has things like Scoops Ice Cream, Your Pie, a coffee shop, Southern Roots Outfitter, and tons more! They also have a really pretty clocktower.

• Stone Mountain
  • If you like hiking or just want to see some really stunning views, check out Stone Mountain! It’s about a 40 minute drive from Covington.

• Visit Atlanta!
  • There’s so much to do in Atlanta like Centennial Olympic Park, the World of Coca-Cola, and the Georgia Aquarium.

Random Things to Do

• This might sound crazy, but one of mine and Lisa’s favorite things to do when we’re in Covington is turn the GPS off and just drive.
  • The roads in Georgia are so different than back home and it’s fun to be able to see new places. Plus, we’re convinced that Every Road Leads Back to Covington. We’ve never gotten lost and almost always have been able to get back to Covington without ever turning our GPS on.
• Check out Chimney Park! It’s a 12 acre park located behind the public library off of Floyd St NE. in Covington
• Walk or bike the Cricket Frog Trail in Covington!
• Get ice cream at QuikTrip!
  • Yes, QT just a gas station, but they actually have great soft serve ice cream!
• Try Bojangles!
  • If you’re looking for a quick meal, try Bojangles! On my first trip to Georgia – a road trip from New England down to Covington – my friends and I had never seen or heard of Bojangles but kept seeing them EVERYWHERE once we got down south, so we decided to try it and really liked it! It’s definitely not as good as a restaurant like Mystic Grill, but it’s good in a pinch!

If you have any Covington or Vampire Diaries questions, send them my way! 🙂

Things Filmed in Covington:

• Vampire Diaries
• Legacies
• Sweet Magnolias
• Dukes of Hazzard
• In the Heat of the Night
• Dumplin’
• My Cousin Vinny
• Remember the Titans
• Sweet Home Alabama
• Footloose (2011)
• Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
• Halloween II
• Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
  • and tons more!