On your left, look up to the top of the hill for a tall red brick tower with four big white clock faces, capped with a little belfry.
This is Rome’s Clock Tower, planted on the summit of Clock Tower Hill, also called Neely Hill... one of the city’s “Seven Hills,” because Rome’s never met a good nickname it didn’t like. The tower you’re seeing started life in 1871 with a very unglamorous job: holding water. James Noble Junior and his family oversaw the build, and it was basically a massive water tank wrapped in red brick to look respectable. Inside, the tank rose about 63 feet high and 26 feet wide, built around a frame made from 10-foot iron sheets. Practical... and just a little intimidating.
Then in 1872, the city decided the utilitarian tower needed some flair. Up went four clock faces and a bell, turning it into an instant centerpiece. The clocks came from the E. Howard Clock Company, and each face is a full nine feet across. The hour hand alone is three and a half feet long... which is a polite way of saying, “You will know what time it is whether you asked or not.” The bronze bell is 40 inches wide, with “1872” engraved on its rim, like a signature on a job well done.
By the 1890s, Rome outgrew the tank, and the tower drifted into mild neglect for decades. Then, in 1986, the Rome Jaycees raised over $80,000... about $230,000 today... to spruce up the hilltop, and by 1995 they helped open it as a museum. Inside: 107 spiral steps and artwork displayed in the old tank space. Not bad for a retired water bucket.
When you’re set, the Floyd County Administration Building is a 4-minute walk heading south.
