Discover Cartersville

Cartersville, Georgia, offers a range of reasons to stay: art and history, science, live performances, and places by the river or lake. When looking for a hotel, you can plan your trip around the topics that interest you most. The museums focus on different subjects; the cultural offerings also include a theater program, an annual art festival, and public sculptures.

Art, History, and Collections

The Booth Western Art Museum and the Tellus Science Museum each cover 120,000 square feet. The Booth is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. Its collection combines contemporary Western American art with portraits and letters from U.S. presidents, as well as Civil War art. It also includes more than 200 Native American artifacts. This brings art and historical collections together in one museum.

The Booth also includes the interactive Sagebrush Ranch gallery. There, children of all ages can learn about art and the American West. Rose Lawn offers a different connection to history: the Rose Lawn Museum is a restored Victorian mansion that was once the home of evangelist Samuel Porter Jones. The connection between the building and its former resident gives Rose Lawn a distinctive identity alongside the Booth’s art collections.

Science, Automobiles, and Live Performances

The Tellus Science Museum has four main galleries: the Weinman Mineral Gallery, the Fossil Gallery, Science in Motion, and The Collins Family My Big Backyard. The museum also has a 120-seat digital planetarium and an observatory with a modern 20-inch telescope. It is located in Cartersville, directly off I-75 at Exit 293. Its galleries and facilities make Tellus a different museum option from the Booth, which focuses on art and history.

Exhibitions at the Savoy Automobile Museum change. The museum also offers educational programs for students. Since exhibition schedules can change, it’s worth checking the current program before your visit. This lets you plan around the automobiles and exhibitions on display at the time.

The Grand Theatre presents an annual Entertainment Series featuring professional ensembles from a wide range of genres. Since schedules can change, check the current dates before your visit. The Arts Festival at Rose Lawn also takes place on a recurring date: it is held on the second Saturday and Sunday after Labor Day in September. Event details can change, so it’s a good idea to check the latest information before making plans.

Downtown and Landscape

Free public art sculptures are located throughout Cartersville’s historic downtown. They complement the museums with works of public art and provide another cultural point of interest in the city center.

The Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site covers 54 acres along the Etowah River. It protects six earthen mounds, a central plaza, and remains of village life. Cartersville’s history thus extends beyond museum collections to include a site whose protected features recall earlier settlement along the river.

Those who want to take in the landscape as well as the cultural attractions can consider the East Loop Trailhead as a point of reference. It connects Cartersville with the shore of Lake Allatoona and sits at 1,562 feet above sea level. This gives you both specific museum themes and a named point of access to the lakeshore to consider when planning.

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