Silver Comet Trailhead Coordinator Jeri Purdy was one of several volunteers out in Seaborn Jones Park in downtown Rockmart on Saturday morning taking paring in the annual Rivers Alive cleanup and asked if I had seen the recent improvements yet going on behind Church Street Manor. She led the way past the covered picnic tables and a recently downed tree that was dying in the park, and toward a place, I’m familiar with on regular drives past it heading toward the quiet route along Antioch Road.

The old white mansion purchased by the city in recent years has a new addition behind it, accessible on a new portion of pathway that takes travelers down the opposite bank of Euharlee Creek from the trail to the park below the Church Street Bridge.

It doesn’t look like much now, but the vision for what’s to come lies in the hillside behind the house is heading into the next phase of development.

New pavement for a parking lot already striped and a concrete pathway is the opening pieces of a larger puzzle that will start to come together in the years ahead to provide a multi-use venue and additional parking access to downtown that isn’t a far off walk from South Marble Street.

The Church Street Manor project being funded via help from an Appalachian Regional Commission grant plans to place an amphitheater along the hillside behind the historic house and grounds immediately facing Church Street to be used in a variety of ways, and tie Seaborn Jones Park and downtown via the trail extension.

The extension was the most recent completion of the project, which in the next phase will have to build out the tiered seating, stage and drainage required to keep the outdoor facility from having problems with the elements and flooding proximity to Euharlee Creek, where during high water is usually covered by overflow from the creek.

The city will also have to determine what to do with the old barn and will have to at least groom many of the trees surrounding the house that have already caused damage from broken limbs falling on fencing.

It is all part of a larger plan on the city’s part to attract more people toward the downtown area, which began with beautification efforts in years past and attracting new business owners to move into storefronts previously left vacant. The project to string lights across South Marble, a portion of Church Street and the area around the Rockmart History Museum has been another effort toward making downtown more friendly day and night to people.

Those interested in finding out what the plans are for the city can head to the Trailhead to see a copy of the proposed layout. It along with other information is available within the facility next to the park (and also where the Rockmart Farmers Market sets up on Thursday afternoons) on Mondays through Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and from Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m.

Check back for more in the coming days on the plans for the amphitheater at Church Street Manor. This is just a note for now.