Rome City Map Poster

About Rome

The city has a mayor-council form of government. The current mayor is J. Craig Lowe, who took office in January 2018 after winning the 2017 election with over 60% of the vote. Rome was founded by European Americans on a site long favored for its strategic location; this had been recognized as early as 1755 when it was selected to be the westernmost point in the original colony of Georgia and became known as "Terminus." During that time, Creek Indians still occupied much of north Georgia and large areas beyond their borders were under intermittent control by other tribes including Shawnee from Ohio and Cherokee from Tennessee (both Iroquoian peoples). In 1818 Rome's first white settler, John Martin built a tavern at what is now Five Points which became an overnight stagecoach stop between Augusta/Macon to Knoxville TN., then part of North Carolina before becoming Tennessee's second capital city until 1819 when Nashville replaced it..